Next Generation
by SpontaneousCombustion
Summary: Confronted by an amalgamation of his own Sins, can Jacob defeat his super-charged Pride, and get Alphonse and Kisa out of his mind before they're all trapped there- forever? The final chapter!
1. Chapter 1

1SC: Okay, I don't know how well this is gonna go over with people, but this is my first attempt at a Psychonauts fic. I must really have a thing for kid stories, 'cause first I did Child of a Shinobi and now this. Oh well, whatever. Puck, get over here and do your job!

Puck: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters.

--

Chapter One

Proposal

Raz was sitting in Sasha's lab, trying to help the older Psychonaut. Help with what, you ask? Well, for one thing, regain his nerve. Yes, Sasha Nein, one of the greatest agents and Razputin's idol, was nervous. "Sasha, if you don't stop pacing I'm just going to telepathically call Milla over here and make you ask her."

Sasha glared at Raz from behind his sunglasses. "Things like this require patience, Razputin."

Raz was twenty now, out of High School, and engaged to Lili Zanotto. Yep, first thing he'd done once both of them graduated was buy a ring, get down on one knee, and ask her to marry him. The answer had been an immediate 'yes!', and the wedding was in three months.

But right now, his love life wasn't the issue. Sasha's was.

Yes, after working with her for years, Sasha Nein was finally going to propose to Milla Vodello, the Mental Minx. If he could actually get up the courage to do it. Finally, Raz got fed up and did the one thing he could to help his friend and mentor. Gave him a helpful nudge towards the staircase. And by 'helpful nudge', I mean a Psi-blast in the butt.

Sasha turned around and glared at him from behind his sunglasses. "Why did I ever teach you that skill?"

Raz grinned. "Because if you hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to save the entirety of Whispering Rock, and you could never ask Milla-"

"Ask me what, darling?" Milla said, floating down the staircase. "I hope you don't mind, Sasha, but Raz told me to come over. He said it was important."

Sasha glared at Raz once again, who just grinned. "See you later." He ran up the stairs before Agent Nein formulated a plan to get his revenge.

Milla turned to Sasha. "What was wrong with him?"

"Nothing." 'Yet.' "Milla, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but..."

"Yes darling?"

Sasha took a deep breath. Since when did he get nervous! He was going to have to deal with that emotion later, and tuck it away in his cube. Deep in his cube. He summoned up whatever courage he could and bent down on one knee, pulling a small velvet box out of his pocket. "Milla, will you marry me?"

Milla was at a loss for words. Trust me, that is a very rare sight, which was why Raz was still sitting at the top of the staircase, listening. He was surprised that neither of his senior agents had noticed yet.

Sasha could feel his nervousness building. He was really going to have to keep this emotion in check later. That is, if his brain didn't explode or his heart didn't break through his ribs first. The next thing he knew, Milla had her arms around his neck and was kissing him. Fireworks were going off in his head, and suddenly, Sasha didn't give a flying shit whether or not his mind was in order. To hell with his cube!

And from his spot on top of the staircase, Raz let out a held in sigh. It was about time!

--

"Sasha, do I have to Psi-blast you in the butt again?" Raz asked. Yes, Sasha was pacing again. Though this time, it was because he was nervous about his wedding, not asking Milla to marry him. "Or should I set your shoes on fire to hold off the cold feet?"

"Funny, Razputin."

"I was serious." Raz muttered. His hair had grown out so that it was in his eyes if he wasn't careful, which he was being right now, for Sasha's sake. He was also now an inch shorter than the older agent, instead of the almost two-and-a-half feet he had been when he was ten.

Sasha, on the other hand, looked almost the same as he always had, except his skin wasn't the sickly shade of green it was. It actually had color to it, even if it still looked like he was almost a corpse. And, his sunglasses were missing, letting everyone finally find out that Sasha actually had eyes, which happened to be a mysterious shade of aqua.

Lili peeked her head into the room. "Sasha, stop pacing, you look fine." Lili had cut her hair short a few years back and decided she liked it so much, she kept it like that, so now it came down to the nape of her neck instead of its usual pigtails. Although she still looked like she still used too much eyeliner on her lower lids, she had filled out quite, scratch that, REALLY well, and had a lot of admirers. Who, if they even thought about making a move on her, would have their asses handed to them by Raz. "Anyway, I was just coming to check on things. We're having trouble keeping Milla away from the ceiling. Just didn't want Sasha blowing up the room. Or setting anything ablaze."

"Well, he's obviously not. Go take care of Milla." Raz gave her a quick kiss on the lips before she left, leaving Raz staring _through_ the door after her.

Sasha laughed. Yes, he had rediscovered that ability once he was engaged to Milla. How could he not? Milla was NEVER unhappy, and just being around her made anyone smile. Even the most emotionless (a/n: I'm looking at you, Sasha.)

--

Sasha was standing at the alter, trying very, very hard not to pass out or something. Truman Zanotto, who was preforming the ceremony, patted him on the shoulder. "Calm down, Sasha. Raz wasn't even this nervous, and I was doing this for he and Lili, too."

Sasha managed a weak grin. "Yes sir." Everyone turned towards the door as the music began playing. The doors opened, and Milla walked in on the arm of her father. Sasha stared.

Milla looked radiant in her dress, which was, surprisingly, pure white, and she seemed to have a glowing aura around her. When she reached the alter, she gave her father a kiss on the cheek and he sat down. Both turned to Truman, who smiled at them both, and started the ceremony. "Friends, family, fellow Psychonauts, we are gathered here today to join this couple in matrimony. We all know it took them long enough." There was a titter of laughter as Sasha and Milla blushed.

(Blah, blah, blah... long boring parts...)

"Do you, Sasha Nein, take Milla Vodello to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

Sasha smiled at Milla. "I do."

"And do you, Milla Vodello, take Sasha Nein to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

Milla's ever present smile widened. "I do."

Truman Zanotto nodded respectfully. "Then I now pronounce you as husband and wife." He turned to Sasha. "You may kiss the bride."

And, in front of friends and family, well, friends and co-workers, anyway, Sasha and Milla kissed each other deeply and passionately as the room broke into a loud cheer.

-15 years later...-

Milla looked up from the coffee pot as Sasha walked up behind her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Morning darling."

"Morning. Are they up yet?"

"Daddy!"

Milla smiled. "Does that answer your question?"

Sasha turned around and hugged his daughter. Yep, Sasha's a dad. "Hello Sarah."

Sarah Nein had dark brown hair to the middle of her back and tan skin like her mother, but had Sasha's dark aqua eyes. Long dangly earrings, the kind her mother wore, dangled from her ears, reflecting the light from the window and ceiling. At fourteen, she was tall and slim, but already a powerful psychic. How could she not be, with her parents being two of the most renowned psychics in the world.

Milla turned around, two cups of coffee in her hands. "Where's your brother darling?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Probably still in his room."

Sasha stood. "Alphonse?"

"Coming dad." Alphonse levitated down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was pale like his father, though nowhere near as pale _as_ his father, with messy black hair that hung to his shoulders. Piercing aqua eyes like his twin's peered out from under his bangs, and there was a silver stud in his right earlobe.

Sasha ruffled his hair, making it messier. "You should be dressed by now."

"But I'm not."

"Obviously. Both of you, go upstairs, get dressed, and make sure you're packed. We're leaving in an hour, and not coming back to the house for anything you forget."

"Got it daddy." Sarah said, bouncing up the staircase.

"Be back in three minutes." Alphonse muttered. Unlike his sister, he was most definantly NOT a morning person.

Milla handed a mug of coffee to Sasha. "It'll be nice to get back to Whispering Rock, won't it darling?"

Sasha smiled behind his cup. "Yes. Did you hear Raz and Lili are going to be counselors too?"

"I did. It will be so nice to have some help around, since Morry..." Milla trailed off. Since the little... incident, Coach Oleander hadn't been himself. Who could blame him, he did go temporarily insane and try to steal everyone's brains. (Hey, that rhymed!) But he still ran the Basic Braining course, and the incident was almost forgotten. Almost.

--

Raz walked through the door, only to hear a loud, "Gotcha!"

He grabbed the flying body with telekinesis. "It's a lot easier to sneak up on someone if you don't yell 'gotcha' as soon as you see them, Kisa."

She giggled. "Yeah, I know."

Lili walked into the room. "Raz, put Kisa down."

"We're just playing mom!" She whined as Raz set her down on the couch.

"Yeah, we're just playing _mom_." Raz grinned. Lili shook her head.

"Kisa, honey, go get dressed. We're leaving in four minutes."

Kisa groaned and got up. "Fine, I'm going. I've only been packing for the last hour."

Raz laughed. "Well maybe if you'd clean you're room more often and wouldn't wait until the last minute..."

"Yeah, like you're one to talk, dad." She said, walking back to her room.

She glanced in the mirror before slipping out of her pajamas. Kisa was thirteen, with waist length dark red hair and bright green eyes, her ears were pierced twice on bottom on the left and right, and a silver stud through the top of the right. She was skinny, seeing as her dad put her through the same acrobatics training he went through when he was younger, which was three hours a day, six days a week. Her psychic powers were still developing, but she could use all the basic skills; pyrokinesis, PSI blasting, levitation, not to mention her father's PSI punch and palm bomb. Her others skills needed some work, though. But hey, that's why she was going to Whispering Rock in the first place. To work on those skills. And become a Psychonaut like her parents.

"Kisa, hurry up or you're going to be late for the introductory ceremony!" Lili called up the stairs.

"Hold on mom!" She yelled back. She slipped a black t-shirt on along with dark violet jeans, combat boots, her mom's old gloves, and, last but certainly not least, her dad's goggles around her neck. They didn't fit him anymore, but he couldn't throw them out, too many memories attached, so he gave them to her.

"We're going to leave without you! Five, four, three..."

She grabbed her suitcase. "I'm coming!" She ran out of her room, slamming the door behind her.

--

SC: Well, that's chapter 1 for you. Hey, does anyone know if Raz has a last name? Or can someone think of a good one, 'cause I sure as heck can't. Read and Review, peeps. B.T.W, Sasha and Milla are both around 32, 34-ish when they get married, and 47, 49-ish when they're heading off to WR with Alphonse and Sarah. Lili and Raz are 21 when Sasha and Milla get married, and 35 when they go back to WR with Kisa.

Later losers (not really, I love you guys. I'll love you more if you review, though.)

SpontaneousCombustion


	2. Chapter 2

1SC: Okay, I've gottentwo reviews. Two. You guys are mean. But there've been41 hits on it, so I suppose I'll get Chapter 2 posted.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts. Wish I did though... all that money... I don't own Korn either.

--

Chapter 2

Whispering Rock, Summer Camp for the Psychic

"Are we there yet?" Sarah asked for the sixteenth time.

"Sarah, we are not there yet. If we were, you would know. Trust me." Sasha told his daughter. "Please do not ask again."

In his head, he heard, 'Are we there now?'

Now, Sasha was getting irritated. "Sarah..."

Alphonse snickered. 'Nice going, sis.'

'Shut up.' She glared at him.

Milla looked into the backseat of the car. "Darlings, don't start squabbling again."

"Sorry mom." The said in unison, still glaring at each other. Milla sighed and turned around to see Sasha smiling in amusement. She pinched his leg lightly. 'Sasha, darling, I'm about to take the wheel and let YOU deal with them. Alone.'

'I'm sorry, Milla.' He apologized, though the smile remained.

Finally, Sasha spotted the familiar sign that hung over the parking lot. "Before you ask, Sarah, yes, we are here."

Milla tugged on his sleeve. "Look, darling, there's Lili and Raz."

Sasha peered over in the way his wife was pointing. "It appears so." He stepped out of the car. "Lili, Razputin."

Both turned around. "Hey Sasha. Hi Milla." Raz called. "You two remember Kisa?"

Milla ran- well, to be accurate, floated- over and hugged said girl. "Kisa, sweetheart, how have you been?"

She grinned. "I've been fine, Milla." Kisa had met Milla and Sasha many times before, when they had come to visit her parents or get them for their latest Psychonaut mission. They were both pretty hard to forget. "Hi Sasha." She greeted the other agent once Milla had let go.

He nodded. "Kisa." Milla shook her head. There he goes again, back into his cube. "Razputin, I don't believe you've met Sarah and Alphonse."

"Can't say that I have, but from how you two have praised their skills, I'd like to."

At that moment, both ran up. Well, Sarah ran up. Alphonse took his time. "Dad praised us? You wouldn't happen to have any recordings of that, would you?"

"Sarah..."

She turned to her father. "What? Just 'cause you and Al aren't morning people, actually, Al isn't an anytime person, doesn't mean I can't be."

Milla laughed. "Lili, Raz, these are our children. Sarah, Alphonse, this is Raz and Lili Aquato and their daughter Kisa."

Kisa looked over the two. Sarah seemed too... hyper to be related to Sasha. Milla, most definantly. But not Sasha. She was wearing a bright, neon pink dress and had probably borrowed a pair of earrings from her mom, because they reached halfway to her elbows. She had gogo boots, which were black, and gloves to match. Dark brown hair fell halfway to her back, and she had tanned skin.

Alphonse looked like he had mostly inherited his father's fashion sense though. He had on a bright red T-shirt with dark green jeans and a pair of dark tennis shoes. He had a jacket the same shade of his pants tied around his waist and a pair of sunglasses sitting on his head. On his hands were a pair of leather gloves and he had a silver stud in his right earlobe. His skin was darker than Sasha but still pale, and his black hair hung down to his shoulders and was very shaggy. 'He must really tick off Sasha.' She thought, putting barriers around her mind. She _was_ in the presence of psychics that didn't happen to be her parents.

As Kisa studied the twins, two pairs of identical aqua eyes studied _her_. 'She's not much to look at.' Sarah broadcasted to her brother.

'Mm-hmm.' He responded halfheartedly.

Sarah looked over at him. He seemed to be looking at Kisa more... intently than she had been. '...Al?'

'Mm-hmm.'

'Mom looks hot in that dress, huh?'

'Mm-h... wait, what!' He looked at her like she was completely insane. She just grinned at him and turned back to Kisa.

"Hi, I'm Sarah. Wow, you're eyes are really bright green."

Kisa blinked. "Uh, yeah. So I've been told."

"Have you ever been to Whispering Rock?"

"No."

"We have. Three times." Sarah grabbed her hand. "Come on, I'll give you a tour. Oh, and you've just _got _to see the lake."

Kisa froze in her tracks. "L-lake?" She squeaked.

Raz jumped into action. "Sarah, Kisa's got to get all of her stuff to her cabin first." Kisa cast her father a grateful look. 'I love you daddy.'

'I know.' Sarah looked disappointed. "Okay. Hey, you can be in my cabin! Emily and Kirsty will just love to meet you."

"Err... sure." She grabbed her suitcase out of the trunk and let Sarah start leading her off again. "Bye mom, bye dad! See you later."

Sasha nudged Alphonse. "Go on."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. 'The grownups wanna talk, so go away Alphonse.' I'm going."

Milla bent down and kissed his cheek. "See you tomorrow sweetie."

He blushed. "Mo-om..." He grabbed his stuff out of the trunk and stalked off after Sarah and Kisa.

Raz let out a sigh. "That was close."

Milla gave him a sympathetic look. "So Kisa has the curse too, darling?" Raz nodded. All four knew what Raz was talking about. The Hand of Galochio. The evil claw of water that is a phenomenon only the Aquato family see. Long ago, they were all cursed by a rival circus family, the Galochios, cursed to die in water, every one of them. As a result, whenever there's a deep body of water nearby, Raz gets understandably freaked out. Swimming was a BIG no-no.

"Yeah. I think it scares her even more than it does me."

Lili raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that? You wouldn't even let me give her a bath when she was a baby because I couldn't see the hand."

"Can you blame me? My dad said I nearly died while I was taking a bath when I was little."

"But he also said that you ducked your head underwater to get rid of the shampoo."

Milla stepped- err, floated- between them. "Lili, Raz." They stopped. "It doesn't matter what happened in the past, darlings. What matters is the present. Raz, I'll give Kisa levitation classes on land, away from the lake, if it will make her feel safer."

Raz smiled at her. "Thanks Milla."

Sasha coughed. "Perhaps you should speak with Ford about this, Razputin."

Raz's face lit up. "Does that mean you finally got the projector to work?" Sasha nodded. "Cool. Now where's the nearest tree stump?"

--

"We're not really close to any of our family, since none are psychic or accept their powers." Sarah said, sitting down on her bunk. "Do you want top or bottom?"

"Um, top if you don't mind. No one else in your family is psychic?"

"Nn'kay, I like bottom better anyway. Well there are some, but they either don't know it or ignore it."

Kisa levitated her suitcase onto her bunk. "How do you ignore being psychic?"

"You just suppress it, I guess. I've never tried. What about your family?"

Kisa sat down next to her. "Well, grandpa is. So is papa. Oh, 'grandpa' is my mom's dad, and 'papa' is my dad's dad. I'm not sure about anyone else." She explained at the confused look on Sarah's face.

"Okay. Hey, is your grandpa really Truman Zanotto?" She asked eagerly.

"Yep. Papa's an acrobat in the circus, and he's really fun to play with. But he always keeps testing dad and me to make sure we've been keeping up with practice." She paused. "But it's still fun. He brings me cool toys."

Sarah grinned, then turned around. "Al, this is a GIRL'S cabin. You, last I checked, are not a girl. Therefore, don't come in."

He smirked. "I'm not _in_, I'm outside the door. Therefore, I'm not breaking any rules."

"Augh, you are so annoying! Just go away before I set your hair on fire."

"Whatever. Just came to tell you Coach Oleander said the campfire's at sundown."

Sarah stood and put her hands on her hips. "Well, you've told us, now go away." He walked away, and a girl walked in. "Emily!"

"Sarah!" 'Emily' had bright cerulean hair and eyes. Her skin was dark, darker than Sarah's, and her arms had random doodles all over them in what looked like highlighter. She was only about four feet tall, but looked to be about fourteen. She had on a white tank-top and baggy blue jeans with white flip-flops. Her wrists were covered in numerous metal bracelets that clinked against each other when she shifted around.

"Where's Kirsty?"

"Her parents took her to the Bahamas this year."

"Ooh, I am _sooo_ jealous. Dad would never want to go somewhere like that. Mom might like the idea though..." Kisa sat on Sarah's bunk and watched. She found it better to stay out of these things.

Emily peered around Sarah at Kisa. "Who're you?"

"Oh, right. Introductions. Emily, this is Kisa Aquato. Kisa, this is Emily Gingles. We all call her Emily Jingles though."

Kisa raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Emily grinned and raised her tank-top. Chains hung from her belt loops and down to her knees. " 'Cause every time I move, I jingle."

"Seems reasonable."

Sarah grinned. "See? I knew you two'd like each other. So, Kisa, what about those cool toys your papa brings you?"

--

Raz laughed as he jumped out of the underground passage to Ford's hideaway. "I never realized how much I missed that. Ford? Oh Fo-ord!"

A voice floated out from the observation room. "I know you're here, Razputin Aquato, you don't have to shout!" Ford appeared before him, unchanged from the last time Raz had seen him.

You see, Ford was getting old, and before Raz and Lili even got married, died. Somehow, though, Sasha managed to retrieve Ford's brain, and, on Razputin's behalf, built a container that would keep Ford- well, his brain anyway- alive and well. Then he built a projector that Ford's brain could use to project his astral form into reality, and have it talk, see, hear, etc. It just couldn't touch anything in the physical world. But hey, that's what telekinesis is for, right?

Raz grinned. "It's good to see you again. So the projector's finally working right?"

"Yep, Sasha's been sneaking out here at all hours to fine tune this baby. Not a bug in it." Ford grinned. "So, I'm guessing you didn't come down here to catch up on old times, Raz."

The grin faded and Raz sighed. "It's Kisa."

Ford nodded knowingly. "The curse." Raz nodded. "So, still haven't figured out a way to break it?"

"No. We, me and dad that is, have tried just about everything, save facing that thing down ourselves." He chuckled. "Which probably means that's what we're going to have to do, and die in the process."

"Well, you're being optimistic today."

Raz frowned. "I don't need to be optimistic, I'm being serious! Kisa's terrified of water. At the mere mention of Lake Oblongata, she froze like she was actually seeing it."

Ford shook his head. "Poor kid. I'd like to meet her some time. If she's anything like you, we'll get along just fine."

"Heh. I'll bring her along next time. Have you met Sarah and Alphonse yet?"

"Sasha and Milla's twins."

Ford laughed. "Twins? Sasha must've gone nuts. What I would've given to see that."

Raz shrugged. "It wasn't all that bad. You know how Milla is with kids. She's still terrified of the fact that Sasha taught them pyrokinesis, though."

"You've seen her nightmare, Raz. It's perfectly reasonable for her to be afraid. By the way, Sasha's been looking for someone to test that confounded machine of his again."

Raz flinched. Last time he'd tested out Sasha's brain scrambler, he'd ended up in Coach Oleander's mind instead of his own. He never wanted to see that much meat in one place **ever** again. "I think I'll pass. I'd better get going before the campfire tonight. Hopefully no one's going to sneak in this year."

"Don't worry, Raz. No one's shown up your entrance yet." Raz waved at him over his shoulder and jumped back down the tree stump he popped out of. It was going to be a long night...

--

"Is the Coach always that... eccentric?" Kisa asked as she, Sarah, and Emily walked back to their cabin.

"Yeah, you just get used to it. At least he's not trying to steal anyone's brain this time around." Sarah said.

Emily snickered. "Like you'd have anything to worry about. With that big empty head of yours, you'd have no fear of the lake monster."

"Who, Linda?" Kisa asked. Both girls turned to her in amazement. "What?"

"That giant... thing has a name?"

"Yeah. And it's not a thing, she's a lungfish. A horribly mutated and experimented on lungfish, but a lungfish." They were still looking at her funny. "Stop giving me that look! So I've gone into my dad's head a few times, big deal. He's got a ton of memory vaults." Funny looks. "Can we please just go to bed? I don't want to go through Basic Braining tired, 'kay? I'm probably gonna fall asleep in my clothes as it is."

"Ugh, same here. Ten hour car ride. Shoot. Me. Now."

"Good point. I've done it millions of times with mom and dad, albeit they are a bit different from Coach Oleander's-"

"Because your dad's mind is a cube and your mom's makes you go color-blind?"

"How many vaults have you opened?"

"Seventeen."

"Wow. Dad's only got, like, three."

"Yep, seen those too."

"Now you're just showing off. Like I was saying, they're a bit different from Coach Oleander's, mainly 'cause the biggest fear in dad's mind is a censor overload and mom's is... well, you really don't have much to fear in mom's mind, unless you find her nigh- uh, never mind."

Two pairs of eyebrows raised, but before either Kisa or Emily could question Sarah, they arrived at their cabin. True to their words, all three fell asleep before they even got changed. Thank god the Coach only bursts into the boy's cabins to give them the 'I want to see all of you at o' six hundred hours' speech.

Alphonse, however, was thinking the exact opposite. 'Why does the Coach only do this to us?'

"Because the girls at this camp happen to be more trustworthy, Nein, then most of you little hooligans." Damn it, he forgot his shields. "Now, lights out!" He walked out of the cabin, shutting the door behind him. The lightbulb that provided a weak illumination at best flickered out.

Then again, that's what flashlights are for, no? Immediately, three clicked on. Alphonse's was still in his bag. Oh well.

"Hey, Al!" The person below him whispered. He peered down the crack between his bunk and the wall to see Eli Chilz, yes that was his last name, grinning up at him.

"Go away." He groaned, turning over. "And don't call me that."

"Can't, we're bunk mates again." He peace-signed him. "Why not, Alphonse is so... adult sounding."

"I happen to like the way my name sounds, thank you."

"Whatever. Hey, did Sarah get a new boyfriend while she was gone?"

Alphonse groaned silently. He had almost forgotten last year's incident when he'd found Eli making out with his sister behind that diving helmet thing. He'd TK'd Eli into the middle of Lake Oblongata and let him swim back to shore. Unfortunately, Eli was one of his mom's best students, other than himself and Sarah, and simply levitated to the nearest dock. His mind screamed 'Lie to him!' but his honor code made him say, "No, she didn't."

"Cool. I'll have to talk to her tomorrow." Alphonse severely hoped he meant talk and not make out. "Anyway, night dude."

He didn't know what his sister saw in him. Eli had a big mouth, both figuratively and literally, uncontrollable, bright green hair (it was worse than Sarah's friend Emily's blue hair. At least _hers_ was a natural shade of color. When blue became a natural hair color, he didn't know, but it was more natural than lime green) that constantly reeked of gel (and that was all, he hoped), and he kept calling him 'dude' and 'Al'. He didn't like it when people shortened his name. Not even his parents did that. Only Sarah, and he yelled at her for doing it.

Not to mention he had a horrible fashion sense. Come on, he was wearing an oversized 'Korn' T-shirt over his boxers to sleep in. If he was going to sleep in a T-shirt, it should at least be something decent, like Alphonse's own plain gray one.

Eventually, his restless mind stopped wandering and allowed him to drift to sleep.

--

SC: Well, there's chapter 2 for ya. Hopefully I get more reviews on this one. (Hint-hint, people, hint-hint) Hope you all liked it, so R and R. BTW, I haven't gotten any yet, but flames are not excepted. Constructive criticism, sure, but no flames. If you flame me, you can expect an equally, if not more rude reply, back. Trust me. I could make a sailor blush if I had a mind to.

Ja ne

SC

Next Chapter (Yes, I've started one of these.): Alphonse's astral form drifts into one of Kisa's dreams. Where did this weird obsession with the Aquato come from! And after that, Basic Braining!


	3. Chapter 3

1SC: Yeah! More reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything out of Psychonauts or Phantom of the Opera. I'm just obsessed with both.

--

-Chapter 3-

-Of Dreams and Basic Braining-

Now, Alphonse Nein may have been one of the best Psy-cadets Whispering Rock had, but that doesn't mean he could control his body while he slept. Or his astral form. Unless he was dreaming, his astral form, unlike most other people's, vacated his mind. And he had a tendency to invade other people's dreams, mainly Sarah's. Well, since he was quite sick of Sarah's dreams, which happened to involve boys, lots of them, mainly movie stars like Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp, he decided to visit one of her friend's. Emily wasn't dreaming, but Kisa was.

Oh, he knew perfectly well that it was rude to invade someone's mind, or dreams, without their permission, but he couldn't very well ask. So into her head he went... and found himself sitting in an auditorium. On stage, the curtains were drawn, but he could see feet moving behind it.

Suddenly, they opened, revealing Kisa, in a long red dress that seemed far too elegant for a simple school stage, standing in front of a mirror.

Suddenly, a voice, a boy's voice, rang out through the air.

"_Insolent boy!  
This slave of fashion,  
basking in your glory!  
Ignorant fool!  
This brave young suitor,  
sharing in my triumph!"  
_

Kisa looked spellbound. She was quite the actress.

"_Angel! I hear you!  
Speak -  
I listen . . .  
stay by my side, _

_guide me!  
Angel, my soul was weak -  
forgive me . . .  
enter at last,  
Master!"_ She could sing. Alphonse was surprised._  
_The boy again. He must've been behind the mirror.

"_Flattering child,  
you shall know me,  
see why in shadow  
I hide!  
Look at your face  
in the mirror -  
I am there inside!"_ A figure appeared in the mirror.

Kisa's face lit up in joy.  
_"Angel of Music!  
Guide and guardian!  
Grant to me your glory!  
Angel of Music!  
Hide no longer!  
Come to me, strange angel..."  
_The mirror glass began to glow and shimmer, like there was a light behind it.  
_"I am your Angel ...  
Come to me, Angel of Music ..." _Kisa walked towards the glowing glass. Outside the room, for that is what it was, another boy, dressed in finery, knocked on what Alphonse could only guess was a door.

_"Whose is that voice . . .?  
Who is that in there . . .?"  
_Inside the room the mirror opens revealing an inferno of white light, stands a figure.  
behind it, He reaches forward and takes Kisa firmly by the wrist, and she gasps. _"I am your Angel of Music . . .  
Come to me, Angel of Music . . ."_ Kisa walks through the mirror, which shuts behind her, and the door of the room suddenly swings open, revealing it to be empty. The boy who had been knocking on the door walks in.

"Christine! Angel!" Alphonse suddenly realizes why this is so familiar. It's the Phantom of the Opera. His teacher made him watch it for Theater class once. Kisa was having a dream about being in a Phantom of the Opera play. The curtains closed, then opened again to reveal Kisa and the Phantom in a poorly constructed gondola. Oh yes, the sewer scene. He could see Kisa take a nervous breath, and then she started to sing again. She really did have a lovely voice. He shook his head. Focus, Alphonse. It's just a dream.

"_In sleep he sang to me,  
in dreams he came . . .  
that voice which calls to me,  
and speaks my name . . .  
And do I dream again?  
For now I find  
the Phantom of the Opera is there -  
inside my mind . . ."_

The boy took over._  
"Sing once again with me  
our strange duet . . .  
My power over you  
grows stronger yet . . ._

_And though you turn from me, to glance behind,  
the Phantom of the Opera is there -  
inside your mind . . ."_  
Kisa again.  
_"Those who have seen your face _

_draw back in fear . . ._

_I am the mask you wear . . ._

_It's me they hear . . ."  
_

Both started singing, their voices blending perfectly.  
_"Your/my spirit and your/my voice,  
in one combined;  
the Phantom of the Opera  
is there inside your/my mind . . .  
_

Voices from offstage, probably a choir, started singing.  
_"He's there,  
the Phantom of the Opera . . .  
Beware  
the Phantom of the Opera . . ."  
_

The boy started singing again.  
_"In all your fantasies,  
you always knew  
that man and mystery . . ."  
_

Kisa's pure voice took over again._  
". . . were both  
in you . . ."_

The boy joined her.  
_"And in  
this labyrinth,  
where night  
is blind,  
the Phantom of the Opera is there/here  
inside your/my mind . . .  
Sing, my Angel of Music!"_

Kisa's voice wavered as the music ended._  
"He's there,  
the Phantom of the Opera . . ."_

And everything froze. Except Kisa, who was looking directly at him. "Enjoying the show, Nein?"

It was about then that Alphonse realized that it was far to accurate to be even the most detailed of dreams. It was a memory. Oops. "Kisa, I can explain." She crossed her arms, obviously waiting. He sighed. "Okay, I can't explain."

"You mean that you have a weird and quite frankly creepy habit of exploring other peoples dreams and-slash-or memories?"

"I'm... sorry?" He offered pathetically.

Kisa seemed to accept that, for she jumped offstage and appeared back in her clothes as the memory faded, leaving only a reel in her hands. She shoved it back in the vault and slammed the door shut. "I guess that's the best I'll get from your male ego."

"I can't help it. My astral form wanders when I'm sleeping."Alphonse looked around. Her mind was composed of grassy hills, basically. There were a few buildings, one of which was a boarded up school. Then there was a circus tent and a large, white building. He also a teleport bug in front of each building.

"Well go wander somewhere else. I'm going through memory vaults and I don't need you in my head to see them. Anyway, I can only hold off my censors for so long." He got the hint and disappeared. Kisa sighed and stalked off in the direction of the next vault.

--

The next morning, Kisa showed no sign of Alphonse's visit, save the fact she refused to even look at him. For some reason, he felt offended. Of course, he _had _gone into her mind without permission...

"You sure your ready for this, kids?" Coach Oleander barked. All of them nodded, and a few, trying to be funny, barked out 'sir, yes sir!'. The Coach didn't seem to acknowledge them as he placed the psycho portal on his forehead and all of their astral forms were pulled through.

-Some minutes later...-

"Kisa, slow down!" Sarah called as the Aquato sped up the netted wall, crawling around the explosions.

"Yeah, we can't keep up!" Emily yelled. A bomb had just blown up in front of her and she'd had to turn around and climb around it.

Kisa laughed. "This is so easy." She pulled herself up and grinned at the poles in front of her that were spouting flame. This was easier than her dad's mind! She laughed and grabbed the first pole and started swinging, laughing the whole time.

She made it to the top to see... a minefield. She grinned and closed her eyes, summoning up her levitation ball. Then, she simply bounced over it. And on the other side was... Alphonse Nein and one of the other boys, Eli something, both of whom were staring at the pole in front of them. "Problem boys?"

Alphonse turned around. "We're trying to get this stupid flag up so we can get going, but Telekinesis won't move it, and I can't levitate close enough to pull it up." She shook her head and jumped on the pole, climbing it easily.

The flag was up, the door was open, and Emily and Sarah had just cleared the mine field. "Emily, going after figments in the middle of five mines is not, I repeat, NOT a good idea."

"Well, yeah, I realize that now."

Kisa jumped down. "You blew up?"

"She blew us both up, can we go?" Sarah just seemed to notice Eli. Suddenly, she was a whole different person. "Oh, hey Eli."

Eli grinned. "Hey Sarah bear." Alphonse groaned at the ridiculous nickname. Suddenly, the Coach's voice boomed through the air.

"Hey lovebirds, quit making goo-goo eyes at each other and get moving!" Both blushed and made a move towards the door, which slammed shut. They all looked up to see the flag had lowered itself.

There was a sigh from the Aquato. "I'm going, I'm going."

After the flag was raised, again (!), the group of five continued through Oleander's course, which wasn't much different from the first time Raz went through it, except one thing. Of course, that one thing wasn't really all that important, just the white hallway in the end room. In its place, was a field of rabbit hutches and, well, bunnies.

"What. The. Fuck." Emily stated, staring at the rabbits.

Sarah shrugged. "The Coach likes rabbits, big deal. Eli, what are you doing?" Eli had walked over and was playing with one of the bunny's ears.

"Cool. They're all soft." He said, petting it.

Sarah laughed. "C'mere, bunny boy."

Coach Oleander appeared in front of them. "Great job, kids. You're the first ones through." There was a flash and they were back in their bodies. They stood shakily. Having your mind basically pulled out of your body then shoved back in within the span of seconds in real world time was not an easy, or fun, thing to do. It was disorienting, not to mention nauseating the first few times. But, that was just all a part of astral projection. How bloody fun.

After they were all steadily back on their feet, the Coach handed each of them a merit badge. Alphonse, Sarah, Emily, and Eli shoved theirs' in their pocket. Kisa looked at hers as if it was covered in gold and priceless jewels.

"Kisa, come on!" Sarah called, halfway down the ramp. "My mom's class is next!"

She shoved the badge in her pocket. "Coming!"

--

SC: Hehe... Milla's class. Oh, yes. Fun with a capital 'F'. Hey, does anyone know why Milla's name is spelled like it is, but everyone calls her 'Mia'? Just wondering.

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion

Next chapter: The floating docks and Kisa's raging fear of deep bodies of water. This should be real bloody fun. But what happens when she finds her way into Milla's nightmares? Like father, like daughter...

PS: I'm thinking about starting a prequel to this, mainly just stuff like Raz and Lili going through high school, their wedding, etc. Anyone who wants to see this better tell me, or I won't do it.


	4. Chapter 4

1Disclaimer: If you go back to the last chapter, there should be one. Just hit the little 'back' button, then hit the 'forward' button to get back to this page.

--

Chapter 4

Hydrophobia times 10

"Hey Sarah, where is your mom's class?" Kisa asked as they walked past the Main Lodge.

"Hmm? Oh, out on the floating docks. She says it makes her feel less trapped than working up in camp would or something like that. She's a little eccentric, huh Kisa? Kisa?" The group stopped and turned around to see that Kisa had froze in her tracks a few feet back.

"Floating d-docks?" She whispered.

Emily walked up in front of her. "Kisa? Hey, you okay kitty cat?"

Kisa blinked. "Huh? Uh... yeah. I'm okay."

Sarah put a hand on her shoulder. "You sure? You looked kinda freaked out."

"Really, I'm fine. Must be psychic jet lag or something."

"Well, if you're sure..." Sarah turned back around.

_'She's lying.'_ Alphonse said in private telepathy.

_'No duh. I think she' s got hydrophobia or something. Remember yesterday when I told her about the lake?'_

_'And she freaked out? Yeah. She's probably just afraid of water or something.'_

Sarah gasped mentally. _'Maybe she can't swim!'_

Alphonse gave her a weird look. _'What kid can't swim at thirteen?'_

_'Well if she's hydrophobic...'_

_'Good point. Ask her later.'_

_'Why me!'_

Insert eye roll. _'One: you share a cabin. Two: you're friends. Three: I'm older than you and I say so.'_

_'Two minutes, Al, two minutes!'_

_'Still older.'_ He cut the link between them, leaving Sarah to glare at his back.

xXx

"This, Kisa, is Lake Oblongata. The color's natural, I swear." Sarah said, gesturing to the lake in front of her.

Kisa managed a weak chuckle. "If you say so." She stared at the water, as if waiting for something. A second later, her eyes widened, and she made a move like she was going to run for it, but stayed still.

Out on the dock, Milla noticed the group standing on the shore. Since she didn't have any students with her at the moment, she floated over. "Hello darlings. Did you make it through Basic Braining all right?" There was a murmur of 'yes mom's and 'yes Agent Vodello's from everyone but Kisa, who was still staring at the lake. "Kisa, sweetie, is something wrong?"

The Aquato blinked and looked up at Milla. "Oh, no. I-I'm okay."

Milla nodded and turned to the other four. "You go on ahead. I'll meet you over there." The nodded and jumped into a couple of canoes. Milla knelt down in front of Kisa. "Sweetie, I could give you lessons somewhere a little less wet if you wanted."

"No, it's okay. I don't want any special treatment because of my... problem."

Milla smiled at her warmly. "Okay. I'll get you another canoe." One of the wooden boats floated over and set itself in the water in front of Kisa. "I'll see you out there, darling." Milla levitated off as Kisa climbed into the canoe.

Ignoring the hand beckoning her into the water, Kisa telepathically paddled the canoe out to the dock where Milla was waiting. "Is everybody ready, darlings?" After getting five confirming nods, Milla levitated her Psycho Portal onto her forehead, and they were all pulled in, much like they had been earlier with Coach Oleander.

xXx

Kisa blinked as she looked around Milla's mind. It was very... bright, to say the least. She looked up at the T.V. screen in front of her to see Milla on it, dancing. "Hello darling. You already know how to summon up your Thought Bubble, so think light, happy thoughts and lets get bouncing!"

Kisa closed her eyes and summoned up her dark violet levitation ball. "Very good. Now, to get past the bouncer, just get all those rings spinning!"

Kisa smirked. "Piece of cake." She floated through all three rings easily.

"Very nice darling. You're mom and dad have been busy teaching you." Milla complimented.

The rest of the trip through Milla's mind progressed smoothly, until...

"Woah!" Kisa yelled as someone bumped into her from behind, HARD. "Hey, watch it!" She yelled, turning around to see who hit her.

She saw a girl with blue-violet tinted skin, bright pink hair, and completely black clothes. "Watch it yourself newbie."

Kisa jumped up. "Who do you think you are?"

"The name's Becky Thorn. And you're in my way." She grabbed Kisa with Telekinesis.

"HEY! PUT ME DOWN!"

Becky smirked. "If you say so." She looked around, then tossed Kisa through a plain looking door, slamming it shut.

"Ow! Hey, open the door!" She pounded on it and tugged the doorknob, but it didn't move. "Come on, let me out!"

She heard Becky cackle outside. Kisa let out a huff and turned around to look at the room. It was a classroom, probably for little kids considering the 'ABC's were written on the chalkboard. A memory vault was running around. Kisa hit it with a Psi-punch and it spat out the memory. She hit the start button, and found herself standing in an open field in front of a large building. Suddenly, smoke started to billow up from inside. It only took minutes for the smoke to build into a huge blaze that started to consume the whole building.

Kisa turned to see Milla, who was in a nurse's uniform, standing in shock, fallen grocery bags at her feet. The Mental Minx bolted inside. Kisa followed. Not that she had a choice, it was a memory.

Milla ran up the stairs quickly, yelling something in Spanish. The sounds of high-pitched screams filled the air. "Help us Milla!"

"Save us!" A roof beam fell across the stairs, cutting Milla off with a wall of flame. She looked around for another way up and found none.

"Milla, where are you!" A girl's voice screamed as the stairs beneath the woman collapsed, sending her falling into the basement. Milla let out a shriek before the memory ended.

Kisa felt tears falling down her face as the burning house faded away. Poor Milla... all those kids... she must have felt so awful. And she always seemed so happy around everyone. The toy box in the corner shook suddenly, making Kisa look up. She walked over and raised the side, peeking in. Not seeing anything, she opened it farther, and stuck her head over the edge. With a cry of surprise, she fell in.

She let out a scream of fear and surprise when she looked around. All around her were flames, held back by a cage. In the flames were small, shadowy figures. "Help us." One hissed.

"Save us Milla."

"Milla... Milla..."

"Why did you let us die?"

"Save us." Kisa felt a pair of arms pull her toward the center of the room, where a soothing blue light was radiating from, and she found herself back in the schoolroom.

"You're lucky I have my nightmares under control, Kisa, otherwise you could've been in big trouble back there." Milla half-scolded as she held a shivering Kisa in her arms.

"Milla! I didn't... I mean, it wasn't on purpose..."

Milla stroked her hair. "I know, sweetie. I was so busy with the levitation race, Sarah and Alphonse get so competitive sometimes, I swear they get it from their father... but I didn't realize that anyone had come in the room."

"So... I'm not in trouble?" She asked hopefully.

"No, darling, but Rebecca and I are going to have a long talk once she finishes the course. You know, your father found this room too, but his reaction wasn't as emotional as yours was, though he never did set another one of my Censors on fire." Milla wiped away one of the tears on Kisa's cheek. "It happened a long time ago, Kisa. Don't worry about it." Milla stood. "Now, you need to get going. Don't want to be the last one to finish up."

"Yeah. See you, Milla!" Kisa started to run out, then turned around and gave Agent Vodello a tight hug before bouncing out the door.

Milla smiled and floated out, shutting and locking the door behind her. She was going to have to keep a closer eye on it. She could've sworn she locked it before coming to Whispering Rock.

Kisa managed to finish the course before Eli and Emily, they'd run into Censor problems, but not Sarah and Alphonse. "You find the room?" Sarah asked. Kisa nodded. "Thought she left in a hurry."

"I didn't mean too..." She muttered, bouncing over to the platform where Milla was dancing again.

"Great job sweetheart!" Milla called over the music. "Alphonse, Sarah, if you want to get out of here, you'd better get over here darlings!"

The twins flew over, just in time to go through the exit portal. All three woke up. Alphonse and Sarah's bodies were near the edge of the dock, Kisa's as close to Milla without looking like a geek as possible.

"Here's your Levitation badge darling." The woman floated Kisa a deep blue badge. Milla knelt down next to her. "And don't worry, it's not your fault. Now, I believe your father is looking for you two, Kisa, why don't you go along with them?"

All three nodded and hopped back in their canoes. As Milla predicted, Sasha was waiting for them at the exit to the GPC/Wilderness area. "Hi daddy."

"Hey dad."

"Hi Sasha."

Sasha nodded. "Alphonse, Sarah, go ahead and wait for me at the lab. I'll catch up with you in a moment." They left after giving their father a questioning look. He was trusting them in his lab? ALONE?

"Okay, they are so hiding something." Sarah muttered, PSI Blasting a random squirrel.

"Well, it's something about Kisa and water. But I don't get it. Hydrophobia cannot be of this much importance." Alphonse muttered, setting a different random squirrel on fire. "I mean, mutti worries about everyone, but vatti?"

"Well, he is really good friends with Agent Aquato. Both of them, actually."

Alphonse grinned evilly at his sister. "We'll have to do our own 'investigation', right sis?"

She grinned just as fiendishly. "You read my mind."

"Yes, but that's not the point."

Sarah sighed. "Alphonse, act your age for once."

xXx

Sasha put a hand on Kisa's shoulder. "Kisa, did you have any... incidents?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Really Sasha, I'm grateful for the concern, but I'm fine."

"Just making sure. Your father may have set me aflame if I didn't." Kisa made an attempt at picturing Sasha Nein running around on fire. "That's not funny." She grinned. He sighed. "You are too much like your father for your own good."

"Funny, mom says that a lot."

"I imagine she does." Sasha muttered. "But that is beside the point. Your father wanted me to improve your fighting skills, so we will need to head down to my lab."

"Okay."

xXx

"Sarah, Alphonse, you had better not be playing with the Brain Tumbler." Sasha called as he descended the stained-glass textured staircase.

"We're not!" Sarah called.

"Yeah, _'we'_ aren't. _She_ is."

"Sarah..."

"I was just checking it out dad!" Sarah protested, floating up next to Sasha. "It's not like I messed with the adjustments or anything."

"Be sure that you don't. Ever." Sasha told her, examining the machine himself. Sarah rolled her eyes at Kisa behind her dad's back, twirling her finger next to her temple. 'Crazy' she mouthed. "I saw that."

"How do you do that!"

Sasha smirked. "I'm your father. I can do anything." After making sure that Sarah had indeed not tampered with his beloved Brain Tumbler (twice), he floated his Psycho Portal up to forehead. "Sarah, Alphonse, would you like to come?"

Alphonse shrugged. "Sure."

"Well, we did just go through mom's, might as well seal the deal." Sarah muttered. Once again, portal to forehead, suck out psyches, wake up in mind. This is getting repetitive.

Kisa looked around Sasha's mind. It was still a big cube, but now it was lots of cubes surrounding a big cube. It was still a pretty big change from Milla's mind. "Now, I assume that Razputin has taught you how to focus your thoughts and lock-on to a target?" Kisa nodded. "Good. Hit that." He gestured to one of those horribly tacky stained-glass lamps that he always used for target practice. She did so easily, the bullet ricocheting of the shattered lamp and barely missing one of the floating cubes.

"Oops. Sorry." She laughed nervously.

"Don't worry about it, no harm done." Sasha assured her.

"Cool! What was that?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide.

"Um, dad called it a Chain Blast. It ricochets off one enemy and can hit up to three more as long as they're in range. I usually practice it on his Censors."

Sarah grinned. "Do it again!" Sasha rolled his eyes but provided more tacky lamps, six this time.

After destroying another eighteen lamps, Sasha decided it was time to move on. But before they could do anything... "Dad!" Kisa yelled, hugging her father.

Raz tugged her hair lightly. "Hi Kisa." He looked up at Sasha. "Sorry to interrupt, Sasha, but I'm taking Kisa to meet Ford."

Sasha nodded. "All right Razputin. Oh, come to my lab later tonight. I finally worked all the bugs out of the Brain Tumbler."

He nodded. "Got it. See you in a minute."

x-And everyone wakes up...-x

Raz was waiting outside the GPC as Kisa jumped down from the highest chamber. "If your mother saw you doing that she'd kill me."

Kisa grinned."I know. But that's why I make sure that she doesn't see me doing it. Dad, when you said Ford, did you mean Ford _Cruller_?"

"Yep." He walked toward a tree stump.

"Um, isn't he dead?"

Raz stopped at the edge of the tree stump. "In a sense." He popped the top of the stump off. "Just follow me."

--

SC: And I'm cutting off here. Ha ha. Okay, now for the good news. I need some more campers, so I'm asking all of my wonderful reviewers to send in, you guessed it, character ideas! Just what they look like, name, age, personality, whatever you feel like adding in there. I'll acknowledge who owns what character in the disclaimer (yeah, there will actually be one next time) and give everyone who sends one in credit. So just hit that little button down there if you want your character to be a camper. And please don't send more than two, okay? We don't need fifty million psychic preteens in one place at once. Not even Milla could handle that many kids.

Random notes:

I figured out why Milla's name is pronounced differently than it's spelled. In Spanish, two 'l's right next to each other make the 'e' sound.

Mutti and vatti are mom and dad in German. Just thought I'd let you know.

And if you want your character to be in Sarah and Kisa and Emily's cabin or Alphonse and Eli's, I'm taking the first three girls and first four boys. Just letting you know. Everyone else is getting placed in some random cabin.

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Pyrokinesis!

... WHY ISN'T IT WORKING! BTW, I don't own Misha, she is the property of psychonaut madz. Who is awesome, just ot let you know. And madz, I really would like Misha's brother, considering that NO ONE ELSE HAS SENT IN CHARACTERS! Thankies!

--

Chapter 5

Meeting Ford

"Why is there a tunnel system under the camp?" Kisa asked as she climbed into the transport.

"You'll see in a second."

The computer came to life. _"Identification please."_

"Aquato, Razputin."

The computer beeped a few times. _"Welcome Razputin. Where would you like to go?"_

"Ford's sanctuary."

_"Yes Agent Aquato." _The cart took off at a speed that Kisa did not think possible for a piece of machinery so old looking.

Raz levitated out of the tree stump. "Welcome to the Sanctuary." He told Kisa as she jumped out. She looked around in awe.

Over the years, Ford's sanctuary hadn't changed much, save a few technology updates thanks to Sasha. "Raz, is that you?" Ford's astral projection appeared in front of them.

"Woah!" Kisa yelped, startled.

Ford looked down at her. "Ah, so this must be Kisa. Your father's told me a lot about you."

Kisa beamed with pride. Raz shook his head. "Please, Ford, do not boost her ego. My dad does that enough." Kisa stuck her tongue out at him. "Very cute."

"I know." She grinned.

Ford shook his head. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Hey!" Both protested at once.

"Point proven." Ford laughed. "I suppose you want me to put Kisa through the same training I put you through?"

Raz grinned. "If you wouldn't mind."

Ford shrugged. "Don't have anything better to do. So long as Kisa doesn't mind."

"Cool!" Kisa grinned. "I'm gonna get taught by one of the best Grand Head of the Psychonauts ever!"

Ford chuckled. 'Raz, what have you been telling this girl?'

'Nothing.' Raz looked up. "Whoops, Lili's looking for me." He kissed Kisa on the top of the head. "Gotta go." He jumped back down the tree stump.

Ford coughed and Kisa turned around. "Kisa, are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Uh, I guess." She replied nervously.

He laughed. "Don't worry. If you weren't nervous, it wouldn't be worth trying to improve your skills. Now, hold still." He put his hand on her forehead and was sucked in.

xXx

Kisa blinked. "Okay, did I just get sucked into my own head?"

Ford grinned. "Don't worry. Now," He looked around. "The best place to practice would be here, I suppose. There's plenty of space. So, what're your weakest skill?"

"Erm... do you want like a list?" Ford nodded. "Okay, from worst to best, um... Shield is my worst, then Invisibility, Telekinesis, Clairvoyance, Confusion, Levitation, Pyrokinesis, and PSI Blasting's my best, other than my PSI Punch and Palm Bomb."

"Any upgrades?" He asked.

"Palm Megabomb, Chain Blast, and Thermal Detonation."

Ford nodded. "All right then, let's start with Shielding. Now, to use this skill, you have to learn how to project your Thought Bubble around you to use as a shield. At first, you'll probably only be able to do this for about four seconds."

Kisa closed her eyes in concentration. 'Okay, Thought Bubble under me... now to put it around me...' She could feel herself lower toward the ground. 'Concentrate... concentrate...' The bubble suddenly popped. "Dang it!"

"Hmm, it's a start. Try again!"

Kisa sighed, pulling out her Thought Bubble again. This was going to take a while...

xXx

After another ten mental hours, Ford pulled out of Kisa's mind. "Well, that will do for today." He said as Kisa shook her head wearily.

"How long has it been?" She muttered. Ford looked at a clock on one of the virtual maps of Whispering Rock.

"About an hour."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. That's how mental time works. You could stay in a mental world for days and only a few minutes could pass here."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. So why am I so tired?"

"You've been mentally straining your mind for what it believes to have been ten hours. And if your mind believes you're tired, you're going to end up tired."

Kisa leaned against one of the chairs in the center of the room. "Mind over matter, right?"

"Exactly." Ford winked. "Now, I believe your mother is looking for you, so I suggest you get going."

"What, dad can't hold her off himself?" She muttered, walking over to the tree stump and jumping down.

xXx

Kisa popped up near the kids cabin. "Okay... mom, mom... where is-"

"Kisa, there you are."

She turned around. "Hi mommy. Were you looking for me?"

"Yes, just to let you know that Sasha's Marksmanship class is tomorrow afternoon." Lili told her daughter. "After your Invisibility class with me and Telekinesis with your father."

"Okay. So does that mean I don't have anything else to do this afternoon?"

Lili shook her head. "No, you've got Pyrokinesis down at the campfire."

Kisa mentally groaned. "When?"

"Not for a couple of hours. You have plenty of time to recover from Ford's training session." Lili patted her daughter's head.

"So, you've talked to dad then?"

"Yes. So, what did you learn?"

"Well, I can get a decent shield up, but only for like two seconds before it pops on me, I can lift up a pebble and fling it three meters away from me, I've almost got Clairvoyance, and I still can't go Invisible worth crap."

Lili smiled. "Don't worry, Invisibility is one of the hardest to get. And watch your language."

"Yes ma'am."

"You are so like your father." Lili tugged her daughter's hair affectionately. "Sarah was looking for you earlier. I think she's down at the GPC attacking squirrels."

"Okay, bye mom!"

xXx

Kisa ran up to have a flaming squirrel shoot by her head. "Nice try, but you missed. Try a little to the left next time." She called.

Sarah giggled. "My bad. Didn't mean to hit you, I thought it was one of the opinionated come to bug us."

"Us? Is Emily up there too?"

Sarah floated down, another girl who was definitely not Emily behind her. "No, she's off torturing my brother, I think. This is Misha Caliente. She's gonna be bunking with us."

Kisa extended her hand. "Hi Misha. I'm Kisa Aquato." Misha shook her hand. Misha had tan skin which looked tanner due to her bright, raspberry-red hair. Her eyes were hidden behind her bangs, but Kisa saw that, when the wind blew them out of the way, they were very big and bright, like a bug's. She was about five feet tall, an inch or two shorter than Kisa and kind of thin, like she'd been on a diet, it had been working, then she quit. She was wearing jeans with a big red rose at the bottom of the left leg, a green turtleneck with short sleeves, small, black running/tennis shoes, and huge gold hoop bracelets that looked like they were going to fall off her wrists.

"Hi." She muttered.

After the three got settled on the top of the GPC again, Sarah turned to Kisa. "This is her first time at Whispering Rock too. She's really good at Confusion and Clairvoyance, don't ask her to demonstrate, I was walking into trees for like ten minutes."

Misha blushed a little. "It was only six."

Kisa grinned. "Cool. I suck at both of those, we've got classes tomorrow and I'm so going to fail."

"It's not school, Kisa, you can't fail."

"Fine little-miss-technical: I won't get my Merit Badge."

Misha grinned. "It's really easy once you get the hang of it. I got it down pat, well, almost, last year."

"How old are you?" Kisa asked.

"Twelve."

Kisa flopped back, making sure to avoid the spikes. "Oh, now I feel great. I'm a year older than you and you're beating me in two of my third and fourth worst skills."

Misha laughed. "Well then I probably shouldn't tell you that I've only known about my powers for two years."

"No, you probably shouldn't have." She looked over at her. "So where're you from?"

"Brazil originally. _Mi familia_ moved to America when I was three because I got sick with hepatitis."

"Ooh, fun." Sarah said sarcastically. "Well, if you're going to stay in the same cabin as us, you've got to spill all your likes and dislikes and crap."

"Err..."

Kisa laughed at that reaction. "Don't worry, Sarah's harmless. I think."

Misha grinned. "No, it's not that. I usually just don't talk this much. Okay, um, I like flowers, nature, animals, you should've seen me yelling at Sarah for setting that squirrel on fire. It was my fault it almost hit you, by the way. I was trying to get it into the stream over there."

"No problem."

"Where was I?"

"Animals. Then you started going on about flaming squirrels."

"Right. Animals, Brazil, Green Peace, and doctors. My favorite flowers are roses. As for dislikes, there are perverts, wars, oil companies, loggers, and illness."

Kisa laughed. "First we've got a Goth psychic, now we've got a hippie."

"I'm not a hippie!"

"You sure sound like one."

Misha pouted. "Hmph."

xXx

"Hey kids, the name's Ember McClain. Welcome to Pyrokinesis class." Ember had light-blue hair that was in a ponytail that sat on top of her head and fell to her waist and a tattoo under her left eye. She was wearing a black, one-shouldered tank top, a black glove covered her right arm, black leather pants, and dark gray boots with soles that had to be at least five inches thick. Her left ear had five earrings in it, three on top, two on bottom, and her right had three, all on top. On her wrists were several gold bracelets.

"She's our teacher?" Eli muttered to no one in particular.

"She's supposed to be one of the best." Alphonse told him.

Sarah gave him a questioning look. "I don't care what dad says, she looks more like a punk rocker than a Psychonaut."

Ember grinned at them. "I may only be nineteen, but I am an official Psychonaut. You don't believe me, ask either of the Agents Nein or Aquato. Now, let's get this party started!" She tossed up a Psycho Portal covered in black and blue flames and it landed cleanly on her forehead. It opened and, for the third time, or fourth for some, and fifth for others, the campers had their astral projections pulled from their bodies.

--

SC: Okay, here's my councilor list for WR:

Pyrokinesis: Ember McClain

Telekinesis: Raz

Invisibility: Lili

Marksmanship/ PSI Blasting: Sasha

Levitation: Milla

Shield:

Clairvoyance:

Confusion:

As you can see, Shield, Clairvoyance, and Confusion are blank. Which means, you guessed it, I need more character ideas! Just not campers this time.

Ja ne!

SC

Next chapter: And you thought Milla's mind was a party? Think again my friends! Will our campers be able to make it through Ember's rock concert mind in one piece?


	6. Chapter 6

1Disclaimer: Go back to chapter 2. There should be one there.

--

Chapter 6

Rock Concert+Fire PAR-TAY TIME!

The first thing everyone noticed when they looked around Ember's mind was that it was a huge party, though this party was not anything like Milla's mind. Ember's party was more along the lines of a mosh pit. A very LOUD mosh pit. Kisa covered her ears and looked at Sarah. _"It's so loud!"_

Sarah grinned. _"I know. I can barely hear you think!"_

_"Oh, very funny. Where's Emily?"_

Sarah looked around. _"Well, um, I found Alphonse and Eli. I can't find Emily or Misha."_ She shoved through the crowd of people to her brother and boyfriend, pulling Kisa along behind her. _"How the heck do we get out of here?"_

Alphonse looked around. _"On stage I'm guessing. That's where Ember is."_ He gestured toward the large stage, where a big screen showed Ember dancing on it.

_"Think we could levitate up?"_ Eli asked.

_"Barely enough room to pull up a Thought Bubble, but it's- ow- better than staying down here."_ Kisa replied, pulling her Bubble out of the air and bouncing over the crowd.

"I like that idea." Alphonse muttered, though no one could possibly hear him, and levitated up next to her. The noise on the stage was considerably less than it was down in the pit.

Ember looked down at them from the screen. "Listen up kiddies, all you've gotta do is get to the other side of the building to where the biggest concert of the century is! You gotta know how to burn stuff first though! All you gotta is harness your internal noise and change it into the power of fire. See ya'!" The screen clicked off.

Eli crossed his arms. "So that means we've got to find a way out of here first, right?" They all looked around.

"Up there!" Sarah yelled, pointing to the rafters. There were already a couple of kids bounding across them.

Kisa grimaced. "No way, that's Becky Thorn. She's probably just chasing some poor kid. Let's try backstage." She ran toward the door hidden behind the light systems. "It won't move!" She growled, tugging on the fallen lights.

Alphonse walked over. "Didn't she say that we have to know how to burn stuff?"

Kisa grinned and put her hand to her head, much like her father. "You might want to stand back. My Thermal Detonation is a little unstable." She frowned. "It's not burning."

Eli and Sarah walked over. "Well, since we're trying to get four people through, we probably need four times the Pyrokinesis." All four of them focused their thoughts on the offending piece of scenery blocking their way. Seconds later, the light system had gone up in smoke.

Sarah grinned. "Sweet." She walked through the door with Eli. Alphonse rolled his eyes and followed Kisa.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

He looked at her. She was a good two inches shorter than him. "It's none of your business."

"But you admit something is wrong."

He smirked. "You don't give up easily do you?"

Kisa grinned. "Nope. Runs in the family."

They both looked up at the sound of PSI Blasting. "Would you two stop flirting and get up here? Ember's got more censors than dad does on a bad day!"

"We aren't flirting!" They both yelled, blushing madly and running up to help.

About a hundred and seventy-four Censors later...

"I hate Strongarm Censors!" Kisa growled, stomping on one of the fires that hadn't gone out yet.

Eli walked over, supporting Sarah. "You hate them? I'm the one who got hit!" Sarah protested. Alphonse tossed her a Dream Fluff.

"Just eat it and shut up."

She scoffed. "Gee, love you too." She absorbed the fluff and stood up, walking over to Kisa. "This is why he's considered the smart one. He spends his Arrowheads on Dream Fluff. Me, I'm saving up for a PSI Energy Colorizer."

"Why? It's so pointless."

Alphonse turned around. "Because she's just vain like that." He told Kisa before walking off.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "He's just mad about the flirting comment. He really does like you though." She winked.

Kisa blushed. "How would you know?"

"We're twins. We know _everything _about each other, whether we want to or not. It's almost mentally impossible to block anything but the utmost of secrets from each other. This one wasn't so heavily guarded."

"Ah." Was all Kisa could manage.

Sarah grinned. "But I believe the big question is do you like Alphonse?"

"That really is none of your business."

"You're blushing! You do!"

"I was already blushing!"

"Would you two hurry up?" Eli called. "Al's about to ditch us."

"Don't call me Al."

"Sorry. Al_phonse_ is about to ditch us, so hurry up."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Men." She muttered. "We're coming. We're coming!" She followed him out the door.

"Okay, where are we now?" Kisa asked. In front of her stood a long hallway, with three different doors branching off of it, as well as a big, green suitcase off to the side. "Guys?" She turned around to find that she was all alone. "Okay, what the hell just happened?"

"Sorry, but you gotta go it alone from here." Ember's voice called.

"Perfect." She muttered, running towards the left door. It opened to a room full of... pink. Lots and lots of pink. Kisa blasted the four personal demons running around before they could reach her, and went over to the memory vault running around. She punched it, making it spit out the memory.

xXx

A young Ember was sitting on the floor of the pink room, playing with a couple of dolls. Tears were running down her face. "Stupid Marcy. Just 'cause _she's_ got a boyfriend already and gets straight A's all the time and is in high school and is little miss perfect doesn't mean that she's better than me." She pouted. "Just because I have blue hair. Ooh, she makes me so mad, I wish she would just... just burn or something!" The doll in her hand burst into flame. "What... oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Mommy said not to do that anymore."

xXx

The memory ended there. Kisa stowed it in her backpack and walked out of the room, but not before grabbing the suitcase tag that was sitting behind the door.

After reuniting the suitcase with its tag, she entered the middle room. It was a school classroom, with more little personal demons running around, not to mention a few average Censors. "Oh crap." Kisa muttered, PSI Blasting the first demon. The shot ricocheted off of it and hit the other three, then two of the Censors. "Woah. Chain Blast upgrade, sweet!" The Censors, which we all know aren't the brightest of creatures, made their way toward her. With a quick thought, both burst into flame.

Finding nothing of interest other than a few figments, Kisa exited the room quickly. The last door led to another hallway, but there were two heavily muscled men standing guard, thankfully they weren't more Strongarm Censors. 'Crud, Invisibility is NOT one of my good abilities.' Well, this _was_ Pyrokinesis class, so...

"Good thing Ember doesn't fireproof her bodyguards." Kisa muttered, stepping over the piles of ash. She walked into the dressing room next to them to find...

"Kisa!" Sarah cried, hugging her tightly.

"Hi Sarah... um, could you let go? You're cutting off my airway."

"Oops, sorry." She giggled. "Have you seen Alphonse or Eli?" Two more doors appeared out of nowhere and the boys walked in, the doors disappearing behind them. "Speak of the devil..."

Alphonse shook his head. "I hate Personal Demons."

Eli nodded in agreement. "Especially when they blow up right in your face."

"Okay, stop agreeing with each other, it's scary." Sarah ordered. "Now come on. I want to finish this course."

Kisa gestured to the door behind her. "Well, only one way out." They all walked back into the hallway.

"No doubt there's going to be another massive Censor attack before we reach the concert, so everyone stay on guard." Alphonse told them.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Al, chill out. You are spending way to much time with daddy for your own good." She walked down the hall and opened the door. "See?" He turned slightly pink and stalked out of the hall. Kisa and Eli followed. Sarah just shook her head as Kisa passed. "He's trying to be Mr. Big, bad, and in charge. He always does that when he gets embarrassed or feels insecure." Kisa laughed and walked out.

They had finally found the other concert. It was HUGE. Thankfully, coming from backstage meant they didn't have to force their way through the crowd. "Hey, look who showed up to the party! Better late than never, right? Here's your badges, don't go nuts with 'em or the whole camp might burn down! And that would be way lame." Ember said, barely looking at them. "Exit's stage left!" She pointed to the other door leading offstage.

The four of them walked out of the exit portal. "Well, that was interesting." Eli muttered.

"My ears are still ringing." Sarah groaned.

"Look at it this way," Kisa said, standing up, "At least we don't have any more classes today."

"Free time!" Sarah yelled.

Alphonse glared at her. "What happened to 'oh, my ears are still ringing'?"

Sarah stuck her tongue out at her twin. "You hold way to many grudges, Al."

"Stop calling me that."

"Whatever. Hey Eli, you wanna go get a burger at the Lodge?"

Eli shrugged. "Sure." They walked off, Eli's arm around Sarah's shoulder. Alphonse glared at them.

"Wow. You are really overprotective." Kisa commented.

"I am not." Kisa put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I am."

She smiled. "Okay, see, now we're getting somewhere."

He looked around at the kids still in trances. "If you want to talk, we should go somewhere else."

"Sure. But not the Lodge. We don't need Eli's head blowing up."

"Actually, I was planning to set him on fire, but that works too." He smirked.

Kisa shook her head. "Great, now I'm giving the psycho ideas."

"Psycho? I'm psycho? You're bunking with my sister and you think I'm crazy?" He asked.

"You're twins. You're both crazy."

"Hey, I am nothing like my sister. Come on, we can head down to the lake, no one should be there." He turned to see Kisa rooted to the spot. "What is it with you and water?"

Kisa bit her lip. "Look, you can't tell anyone okay? I'll show you once we get down to the lake."

--

SC: Wow, I'm moving this along fast. Well, I'm sure you're all dying to see Chapter 6, so I'll start as soon as I get this posted. And if you guys can't tell, I am going to get Kisa and Alphonse together (eventually). Hey, if Lili and Raz can fall in love in one day, Kisa and Alphonse can start to fall in love in two. So there.

Ja ne

SC


	7. Chapter 7

1Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts. psychonaut madz owns Tony and Misha, I don't know

owns Akiko Yukari for they didn't leave their name, and TheFarceHunter owns Hazel Mirnych.

--

Chapter 

Sharing a Secret. Or two.

"So what are you going to show me, exactly?" Alphonse asked.

Kisa looked at the water nervously. "You can use Clairvoyance, right?" He nodded. "Then use it."

Alphonse concentrated, and he was suddenly seeing through Kisa's point of view. She took a few steps closer to the water, and he let out a small 'woah'. A hand had raised out of the water, beckoning Kisa forward. He pulled out of her head. "What in the world was that?"

Kisa closed her eyes. "That was the Hand of Galochio. It's a curse on the Aquato family, placed by a rival circus family. It killed my papa's parents and cursed all of their descendants to die in water."

"Woah." Suddenly, he felt REALLY bad for trying to pry into it earlier. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."

"Of course you didn't. No one knows about it outside of the Aquato family and your parents, and even they found out by accident. They were on a mission and... something happened. My dad almost drowned, and he ended up telling them."

"Wow. Is your mom cursed too?"

Kisa shook her head. "No. She was spared the curse because she may have the name, but she doesn't have the blood. Listen, Alphonse, you can't tell anyone, not even Sarah. I shouldn't even have told you."

He frowned. "Why?"

"My dad is one of the highest ranked Psychonauts in the government. If anyone found out about this, they'd be after him fast. And if someone caught him, that would be the supreme torture." She told him. "Give me your word you won't tell anyone."

"I swear I'll keep this a secret until I die and after that."

"Good. Now if you don't mind, I'm leaving." She walked off toward the lodge. Alphonse took one last look at the lake as she left. Swimming was not something he felt like doing anymore. Not that he'd ever go swimming in Lake Oblongata anyway.

xXx

"Hello, earth to Kisa?" Sarah called, waving her hand in front said girl's face.

"Hmm?" She looked up from playing with her dinner, which she wasn't sure was edible in the first place.

"I was saying that our Shield and Clairvoyance teachers are sitting right over there." Sarah pointed a couple tables over.

Kisa looked over. Three tables away, two adults sat, talking quietly. She could faintly see a stream of psychic energy going between their minds, which meant they were holding a two-part conversation. She drew her eyes away from the link and looked at the teachers. Both were women, but they looked very different.

The first had pale skin and dark black hair held back in two ponytails that reached her hips. Her lips were bright bubblegum pink and she had large eyes. Not quite as bug-eyed as Misha, but very close, almost like an anime character's. She was wearing thigh-high white gogo boots, a ruffled black skirt, a halter top that was the same bright pink as her lips, white fingerless gloves, dice-shaped earrings, and a white cap with black skull pins on it. She looked to be about twenty.

The other looked a bit older, maybe a year. Brown hair that was cut in a short bob that sloped up from the front to the back and slightly slanted, green eyes a shade lighter than Kisa's. She had on a short jean skirt, a dark gray tank top, tennis shoes, and long, black socks with gray hearts on them. She was very thin and slightly tan.

"That's Akiko Yukari and Hazel Mirnych." The four girls turned around to see a young boy standing there.

Misha rolled her eyes. "Ugh. What do you want Tony? Never mind, don't answer that. I know what you want."

"Now is that any way to treat your twin? You could at least introduce me to your lovely friends."

She sighed. "Guys, this is my brother Tony. Tony, these are Emily Gingles, Sarah Nein, and Kisa Aquato."

"Nein and Aquato huh?" He asked. "You two wouldn't happen to be-"

Sarah grinned. "Yep. I'm Sasha and Milla's daughter, and she's Raz and Lili's."

"Cool." He blew some of his black hair out of his eyes, which were just as bug-like as his sister's. He was very tan, also like Misha, and was about, from what the girl's could tell, they were all sitting down, 4' 8". He was wearing blue, silk shirt with the top three buttons undone, black jeans, big black uniform shoes, silver gloves, and small silver hoop earring. He sat down next to Misha.

She sighed. "No one invited you."

"But I'm family."

Sarah laughed. "We don't mind, Misha."

"You will in a minute." Misha warned them. "He's a horrible flirt and a pervert."

"Hey, I resent that! I'm a wonderful flirter." Tony protested.

Kisa rolled her eyes. "Just don't try flirting with Sarah, she's already got a boyfriend, who, by the way, is thinking about setting you on fire."

Sarah shook her head. "He is?"

"Yeah. Your brother thinks it's funny."

Sarah got up and walked over to the table where Eli and Alphonse were sitting. "Ooh, they're in trouble now." Emily muttered. Sarah walked back looking quite proud of herself, while her brother and Eli looked a little bit scared.

"They're going to behave themselves now." She informed them, sitting down.

"What in the world did you just do?" Kisa asked.

"Nothing much, just threatened to castrate them both with telekinesis."

Tony flinched. "Ooh, painful."

Emily rolled her eyes. "She wouldn't ever do it. Though it is so much fun to watch you threaten them, Sarah."

"Yeah, I know."

Kisa stood up. "Well, I'm done, so I'll see you guys back at the cabin."

"Later." Came the unanimous reply, even from Tony.

"Tony, it's a GIRLS cabin. That means no boys allowed." Misha said.

"Aw come on. I'm your brother." Their argument faded away as Kisa walked out the door.

xXx

Raz floated out of the tree stump and into Sasha's lab. "Sasha? I'm here."

Said German peered out from behind the Brain Tumbler. "Ah, Razputin. I'll be with you in just a moment."

Raz looked around the lab. It hadn't changed much since the last time he'd seen it, which was actually just before Kisa was born. "You need to redecorate."

Sasha laughed. "I hardly have time to think about that." He walked over. "Are you ready to try again?"

Raz grinned. "As long as it's not going to send me into a mutated circus again."

"It won't, I promise. That only happened because it was picking up brain waves other than your own."

Raz walked over to the brain tumbler while Sasha readjusted its height. "How do you know you fixed it?"

"I've been testing it."

"On who?" A sly grin crept onto Sasha's face. "Yourself? Isn't that just a little dangerous?"

"More than a little, Razputin. That's why Milla doesn't know."

Raz shook his head. "You could've just asked me to come out here." He told him, putting his head back against the head thingy (a/n: so sue me, I don't know what to call it.)

"I think Milla would have been angrier if I'd been using you as a lab rat than if I had been using myself." Sasha walked over to the controls. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Sasha had his hand on the lever when they heard the hatch open. Raz pulled away from the machine.

Milla floated down the stairs. "Sasha? Have you seen Morceau? I can't find him anywhere. Hello Raz."

"Hi Milla." He waved.

Sasha shook his head. "I'm afraid I haven't seen him, Milla."

Milla pouted a little. "That's odd. I've checked everywhere in the camp."

Raz frowned. "Did you check... never mind."

"What is it, Razputin?" Sasha asked.

"Well... I was going to ask if you'd checked out Thorny Towers." There was an awkward silence between the three agents. No one, Psychonauts or otherwise, had gone to Thorny Towers Home for the Disturbed since the incident.

"Why would you think that he was there, darling?" Milla asked.

Raz shrugged. "I don't know. It just popped into my head. Let's just forget that I said anything about it." Sasha and Milla nodded, grateful to change the subject.

Milla looked at the half raised Brain Tumbler. "Sasha, darling, you weren't about to use that on Raz again, were you?" Whoops. Busted.

xXx

"Rise and shine Emily!" Kisa called across the room.

Said girl shot up in her bed, smacking her head on the slanting part of the ceiling. "Ow! What, what, what!"

"It's time to wake up. We've got TK class with my dad." She said, slipping her goggles over her head.

"Why didn't Coach Oleander wake us up?" Emily grumbled, jumping down.

"Maybe he overslept?" Misha suggested.

Sarah scoffed. "The Coach? Oversleep? Yeah right, he'd sooner try to take over the world again."

Misha shrugged and turned to Kisa. "You said we have class with your dad first, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

The red-head looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you kidding? You're dad's awesome!"

Kisa knelt down to look under her bed. "I don't see him like that. He's just dad to me. Has anyone seen my ponytail holder?"

"Try under your pillow, that's where all of mine seem to end up." Sarah suggested. "We're just used to our parents being idolized, Misha. It's a natural thing for us."

"Yeah. Ah ha!" Kisa triumphantly held up a hair tie. "Found it! Right under the pillow."

Emily, who had gotten dressed at lightning speeds, walked over to the door. "Can we go then?"

All four walked out to see Tony trying to sneak away from the cabin. Emily grabbed him with telekinesis. "What are you doing over here?"

He grinned nervously. "Eh-heh... nothing."

Misha gasped. "You little perv! He was spying on us!" Three very angry sets of eyes turned to him.

"I should so set him on fire." Kisa growled, a hand raising to her forehead.

"What's going on?" Eli asked, walking up with a still half-asleep Alphonse behind him.

Misha glared at Tony, who was still a good five feet off the ground. "My pervert brother was spying on us!"

"Spying on us whilst we were changing, no less." Sarah said.

Both boys glared at Tony. "You four get to class." Alphonse ordered. Emily let Tony drop and walked off.

Misha ran up. "That's it? That's all your going to do?"

Sarah grinned. "Please, Eli and Al can do just about anything when they're pissed. Let's just get to class."

"I think dad's in the parking lot." Kisa said.

"_Vamanos!_ Let's move it people!" Misha yelled, running off.

xXx

The four walked up to see that already, Raz and the students around him were in a trance. "Uh-oh." Kisa muttered. "We're late."

Raz opened one eye. "Yes, you are. Now get over here." The girls walked over, into the range of the Psycho Portal on Raz's forehead. Insert more usual Psycho Portal behavior here.

xXx

Apparently, my dad's mind is amazing to those who haven't been in it before, because all three of my friends stared in awe at the circus before them. I've seen memories of what the meat circus looked like, and let me tell you now, that is not what my dad's mind normally looked like. It was just a regular circus, albeit there were a bunch of annoying figments, emotional baggage, and memory vaults. Seventeen of those had been opened by me, and I think there were still three or four running around somewhere.

But what I liked most about my dad's mind was that it was perfectly built for acrobats. Like me. I'd run this course so many times, physically and mentally, I knew it by heart. Unfortunately, this was Telekinesis class. Not one of my best.

"This is SO FREAKIN' COOL!" Misha squealed.

I looked at her. "Um, Misha, you do realize that it is my dad that you're idolizing?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Just wondering, because your obvious adoration is starting to creep me out."

Sarah shoved me. "This is so not fair. My dad's mind is boring with a capital 'b'."

"Get over it." I muttered, walking into the big top. I growled as I entered. All my paths had been blocked with something that was obviously to tall to jump on and to smooth to climb. I let out a frustrated breath and concentrated. All right... what did dad always tell me about TK? It's just a psychically controlled hand, just another way to make your thoughts solid. I opened one eye to see a dark violet hand grab the lump-thing and toss it halfway across the tent. Sweet. I scaled the ladder as the lump reset itself for my friends, who were just now entering.

I laughed and grabbed the trapeze. I was so going to beat them.

xXx

"I take back my earlier statement that I was going to beat them, all right?" I yelled to the air. Apparently, the tunnel of love rail-rider thing which I was awesome at (I'm not bragging. I'm really not. You'd be good at it too if you had to practice on it for like three hours at a time.) was not part of my dad's course. Instead, a whole field of those lumpy things replaced it. The point: to throw one lump into another and clear a path. Not. Fun. At all. Even more not-fun: Every two or three lumps, I triggered a Censor outlet. And I was almost out of mean little balls of hate. I blew up another two lumps, and a red circle with a single line through it popped up.

I groaned. My aggression energy was gone. Now I was just tired. A blue bullet flew by my head and blew up the Censor coming at me. I turned around to see Alphonse. "Hi."

"Hi. Duck." I did, another bullet whizzing over my head. After a few more shots, all the Censors were gone.

"Thanks." I breathed.

"No problem." He smiled. I blushed a little. He was cute when he smiled. His grin widened.

"Please tell me you didn't hear that." I said, my face probably crimson.

Alphonse laughed. "I would, but my mom always told me it was bad to lie."

I put a hand over my flushed face. I had _NEVER _been this embarrassed in my _entire life_. "Look, there's the exit!" I ran toward it. "Hi dad. Can I have my badge now?"

He laughed. "I guess, since you seemed to have mastered the art of throwing things at each other." He gave me the yellow badge.

"Cool. Bye!" I hopped through the exit portal as Alphonse walked through the doorway. Great, now I was going to have to avoid him for the next month. Well, if I figured out Invisibility in mom's class as fast as I'd picked back up on Telekinesis in here, then maybe it wouldn't be so hard.

--

SC: Okay, here's the basic plan for the rest of the chapters:

Classes

Going home (there will be kissing in here! Give you a cookie if you guess who! Hint: There's more than one couple.)

Conflict starts

Kisa, Alphonse, and Sarah set out to solve conflict

Chaos ensues

A bit more chaos and a lot of mental fighting

Final Boss

End (this might actually take two chapters)

So, fear not readers! You have at least, AT LEAST, eleven more chapters. If you haven't noticed, there's one chapter per class. Then you just add the rest of the topics in there. So you've only got, like, five Whispering Rock chapters left, maybe a few more if I decide to make them go to Thorny Towers, but then it's back to wherever I decide to make them live. I believe I may make Sasha and Milla live in California. Poor Sasha... but Milla would love it!

Ja ne!

SC


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Psychonauts so don't sue me. I'm broke anyway.

--

Chapter 8 

Suppression

Kisa hurried to her mom's class, which was out in the Wilderness area right before the GPC. "Hey mom."

Lili opened an eye, for she had students with her already and had been in her mind, and smiled. "Hi. You ready?"

"Am I ever not?" She asked dryly, lowering her goggles so her mom could see the 'duh' look in her eyes.

"Don't get smart with me." Lili warned, pulling Kisa into her mind.

Lili's mind was… unexpected. Or, at least, it wasn't what people expected the mind of cynical and sarcastic Lili Zanotto's mind to look like. It was very girly. Lots of pinks and black everywhere. 'Everywhere' happened to be a big, open, flower filled field with the occasional rock and tree dotting the landscape. There was hardly any grass; flowers covered all of the ground space except for where the trees and rock were placed.

Kisa looked around. "Oookay, do I need to hit a button or something, cause this doesn't look like much of a training course."

Lili, who had appeared next to her, laughed. "Try taking a step out of the box." Kisa looked down to see a large, white box painted on the ground. She stepped over the line and…

"Whoa." The scenery took on a drastic change. Large wolf-like things roamed all around, snapping at any children they saw. She took a step back, and the kids and wolf-things disappeared. "Got it. No button needed." Kisa looked up at her mother. "Did grandpa not get you a puppy as a kid or something?"

"I had three puppies, but that's not the point here. You have to get past all the wolves to get through the course. They all have set paths, and once you pass one, it vanishes. Well, to you it does."

"Not to hard."

Lili tugged her daughter's ponytail. "Let me continue. If one of them spots you, it will continue to chase you, visible or not, until you pass the next checkpoint. There's one of those every time you pass another wolf. If it catches you, it'll send you back to the last point. If the same one catches you three times, you get sent back here."

Kisa looked at the rocks and trees. They seemed to be lined up more strategically now that she looked at them. "Mom, you know I suck at Invisibility. I'll never get through here."

Lili patted her head. "You'll do fine."

"Can I get an explanation again?"

Lili rolled her eyes with fake annoyance. "I suppose. Invisibility is just being able to project a barrier around you that clouds the eyes of those around you."

"Oh, well, when you put it _that_ way…" Kisa muttered, stepping over the line. The wolves appeared again. 'Okay, just do what Ford told you. It's like a Shield, only it forms to your body and makes you invisible instead of a bubble and protecting you. Easy. Right. Easy. Ha.' She closed her eyes and concentrated.

After a few seconds, she opened one eye carefully to look at her hand. She couldn't see it. "Yes!" She cheered, cart-wheeling past the first wolf. He vanished as she reappeared behind where he had previously been. Kisa looked at her now visible hands again. "Uh-oh. I shouldn't be visible yet, that was only two seconds!" She ran over behind a tree so the next 'guard' didn't spot her. "Crap, crap, crap, and mega crap. Mom?" She called.

Lili popped up next to her. "What's wrong?"

"The good news is I can go invisible now. Here's the bad news: it only lasts for two seconds."

Lili frowned. "That's odd. Even people who just got it can hold it for ten seconds at least."

"Thanks mom, that makes me feel oh-so-much better." Kisa said sarcastically.

Lili ignored the sarcasm. "Sweetie, this wouldn't have anything to do with what happened at school a couple years back, would it?"

Kisa shrugged and looked at the ground. "I dunno. Maybe."

Lili nodded and pulled some smelling salts out of her pocket; why she had them, we'll never know. "Go talk to Ford. You can come make up my class tonight." She popped the smelly sticks under Kisa's nose, and her daughter's astral form vanished. Then, she telepathically reached out for Raz's mind. _"Raz?"_

_"Lili? What is it?"_

She paused before replying. _"Kisa may not have gotten as better as we thought."_

xXx

Kisa physically fell back as her astral form slammed into her body. "Oh gross!" She coughed. "That was awful!" She looked around to see Alphonse, Sarah, Eli, Tony, Misha, and Emily in the group of students, already in trances. She dusted herself off and hopped in the tree trunk before the GPC.

_"Identification please."_

Kisa mentally cursed. She'd forgotten about this. Might as well try… "Aquato, Kisa."

The computer beeped a few times before responding with a cheery, _"Welcome Kisa. Where would you like to go?"_

Kisa let out the breath she'd been holding. "Ford's Sanctuary."

_"Yes, PSI cadet Aquato."_ Kisa glared at it as the cart took off. 'Very funny, Ford.'

xXx

Kisa hopped out of the stump in the sanctuary. "Ford?"

His astral projection popped up in front of her. "Kisa? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class with your mother?"

"She sent me here."

He paused. "She's just filled me in. Still can't get Invisible?" Kisa shook her head. "All right. Let's head in and see what we can find." Kisa's eyes went blank as Ford pulled her into her mind again.

xXx

The scenery had changed drastically since the last time Ford saw Kisa's mind. The sky, which had been black, was now crimson red, and the silver grass was all dead and brown. Thunder roared off in the distance. "Whoa, what happened here?"

Kisa looked at the school. The boards covering the doors were set aside. "That." She started to head toward it.

Once they were inside, Ford looked around. From the outside, the school looked derelict, but inside it was clean, shiny, and new. But it looked more like a prison than a school. The hallway's windows had thorny bars over them, and the doors were steel and padlocked. As Kisa walked down the hall, red light glowed from the classroom windows, and horribly mutated figures jeered at her. "Kisa, are these your nightmares?"

She nodded, flinching as one reached through the window to get at her. "Yeah. Something bad happened at school one day… it made a big mess. Grandpa had to bring in a special team to clean it up. Then we moved."

"Yes… I believe Raz mentioned that… your powers went out of control?"

Kisa nodded, and the sound of a memory vault reached their ears. It ran down the hallway, pausing to look at them. She gestured toward it. "Go ahead and see for yourself."

Ford blasted the vault, and it spit out a memory reel. Ford looked at it. It didn't have a title. He picked it up and hit the 'play' button.

xXx

**(a/n: We're doing this a little different this time. Ford's not gonna be in it like Al was with Kisa's, it's gonna be just like a movie.)**

A younger looking Kisa, maybe ten, was running down a school hallway. She was wearing a cutesy pink T-shirt and black skirt, and a pair of pigtail buns sat on her head. She opened the door that said 'Drama Club' on it to see a group of kids in there, laughing and eating sandwiches. "Jacob!"

One of the boys turned around. He had long black hair that fell to his shoulders in a messy mullet, bright, electric blue eyes, and dark tan skin. He grinned at her, revealing braces. "Hey, Kisa. What's up?"

"We need to talk." She said icily. "Outside."

He shrugged. "Sure." He followed her out of the building and into a group of trees behind it. "So what is it?"

Kisa whipped around. "Why are you going around telling everyone that we're an item!"

He laughed. "Kisa, calm down."

"I won't calm down! Not until you go back in there and tell everyone you were lying about me agreeing to be your girlfriend!"

Jacob laughed again, though it was much more quiet. "No. Because once you hear what I have to say, you WILL be my girlfriend." He took a step toward her. "See, I know about you and your family's little secret. That you're all psychics and that your parents are two of the most highly ranked Psychonauts in the world and your grandpa's the Grand Head of the Psychonauts.

Kisa's eyes widened. "But… how… you aren't psychic! How could you possibly know all that?"

Jacob grinned maliciously. "I have my ways. And you will be my girlfriend, or I'll expose you and your family. Tell me Kisa: what happens to Psychonauts that don't keep their identities secret?"

"Are- are you blackmailing me?"

"Blackmail is such a strong word." Jacob said. "I like 'forcibly persuading' better myself." He grabbed her arm and kissed her, squeezing her ass at the same time. Seconds later, he found himself telekinetically pinned against a tree.

Kisa's face was contorted with rage. "You think _YOU_ can touch _ME_!" She lifted off the ground, her eyes glowing violet.

"What… what are you doing?" Jacob asked, scared.

"Fixing my 'problem'." She told him, putting her fingers to her forehead.

Jacob curled into a little ball. "No, don't hurt me, please! I… I'll tell everyone I was lying! Just don't hurt me!"

A tree next to her burst into flame. "What-" Kisa didn't have time to finish, because her mind suddenly blacked out, and she was looking through Jacob's eyes. Splotches of her body were invisible, and a shield radiated around her. Burning tree branches flung themselves everywhere, and PSI Blasts shot off in random directions, blasting apart trees, rocks, and dirt.

By this time, the rest of the students who had been in the room from earlier had run out. "What's going on?"

One of the girls spotted Kisa and screamed. "OH MY GOD!"

"She's a freak! Aquato's a freak of nature!"

"We have to get out of here!"

Kisa pulled herself out of Jacob's head. 'Oh god, what's going on!' She looked down at Jacob, and he was grinning madly. A Confusion Grenade flew out of her hand and hit the group of trying-to-flee students. They staggered around like drunks, forgetting they had just seen an eleven year old floating in mid-air and glowing. Now they were much more interested in the pretty ants that were walking along beneath them. They all walked into each other and fell back, giggling.

A burning throb laced through Kisa's mind as she shot off another PSI Blast. She heard a scream of pain and fell to the ground, her levitation ceasing. She collapsed as she heard another 'thump' of a body that wasn't hers hitting the ground.

xXx

"Luckily, no one else had seen my little light show, and mom and dad managed to get down there before anyone woke up." Kisa said as Ford pulled out of the memory. "They called Milla and Sasha over ASAP, and they managed to wipe everyone's memories of what they saw."

"Who screamed?" Ford asked.

Kisa bit her lip. "Jacob did. My PSI Blast hit him in the face, and short-circuited his mind and fractured his psyche. His parents locked him in an asylum, and he fell into a coma after three months." A tear dripped down her face. "He hasn't come out yet."

Ford put an arm around her shoulders. "I- I lost control of my powers, Ford. I didn't even know what I was doing, I was just so mad!" She sobbed. "A- after that I- I figured out how to… to block my powers. I locked all of my psychic abilities up somewhere I wouldn't come to get them. The only things I can use are basic skills, and what I've re-learned over the past three years."

"Where did you lock them up, Kisa?" She pointed down the hallway going to their left. There was only one door. It had a ripped sign reading 'Drama Club' on it. There were loud hisses from behind it. "In there?"

She nodded. "Along with some… other things."

'More nightmares.' Ford thought. "Kisa, you have to open that door."

"I don't want to."

Ford sighed. "Kisa, if you don't open that door sooner or later, your powers may disappear for good. Do you want that?" She shook her head. "Then go open that door. The only way to get rid of your fear is to face it."

Kisa stared at the door warily. Slowly, she walked down the hall toward it, claws reaching for her from every side. "_Freak_."

"_Monster_."

"_Murderer._"

Kisa stopped and clutched her head. "It wasn't my fault." She whispered.

"_You killed Jacob_."

She shook her head. "It wasn't my fault."

"_You're a freaky psychic and a murderer._"

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, barreling towards the door. She slammed into it painfully; even Ford winced a little, and grabbed at the doorknob, missing several times. Her fingers finally closed around it, and she heard the other nightmares' hisses stopped.

Kisa looked up to see a rough figure in front of her. "Why did you try to kill me, Kisa?" The nightmare asked, its voice a slightly rougher, quieter version of Jacobs.

She growled and pulled her hand back. Kisa's reply was to quiet for Ford to hear, but she shoved her hand through the figure's stomach and turned the doorknob. She shoved it open, and blue light blasted through, knocking Ford out of Kisa's head and Kisa back into reality.

xXx

When Kisa opened her eyes, she was no longer in Ford's sanctuary, but Sasha's lab. "Wha…?"

Lili ran over and hugged her daughter. "Thank god you're alright." She whispered.

"M- mom? What happened?"

Sasha looked up from his computer. "It's incredible. Your psychic power levels have almost tripled, Kisa. What in the world did you do in there?"

Kisa shook her head. "I can't remember. Ford and me were in the school, then I opened a door…" She shrugged. "After that, nothing."

Raz sat down next to her. "You had us worried Kisa."

"Why? What'd I do?" She asked, scared.

Milla shook her head. "Nothing serious, darling, but we had to get you away from all that Psitanium, otherwise you might've seriously hurt yourself."

"Whatever was behind that door, it was very powerful." Sasha muttered from behind his wife, still looking at his charts. "Your psychic power was about here," He pointed to a spot about two inches above the bottom, "Around rank twenty. It's jumped up to a little above sixty."

"Are you serious?" Kisa asked. Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Right. Stupid question. You're always serious."

Raz, Lili, and Milla laughed a little. Sasha rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Haha, very funny."

"Aw, come on Sasha. Lighten up." Kisa laughed. She gasped as Sasha suddenly got lifted into the air.

"Put me down, Kisa!"

She did so immediately. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry Sasha I didn't mean to do that!" She rushed her words without taking a breath, making it seem like they were all one big word.

Sasha nodded and brushed off his clothes, even though they weren't any more dirty or wrinkled than they had been. Well, maybe a little more wrinkled. 'God I wish I was invisible right now.' Kisa thought, completely embarrassed.

Lili looked down at her daughter. "Kisa!"

"What?" She looked down at her body to see that she was invisible. "Oh crap!" She immediately regained her visibility.

"What's going on Sasha?" Raz demanded.

Sasha frowned. "I'm not sure."

"You're… what?"

"You heard me, Razputin. I'm. Not. Sure."

Kisa scooted closer to her mom. She did NOT want to accidentally start levitating. "Not making me feel better over here." She muttered.

Lili hugged Kisa closer. She'd apparently been having the same thought. Or read her daughter's mind. "If you had to guess, Sasha, what would you think is wrong?"

The older agent sighed. "Her power level has increased dramatically. I'd have to guess that her mind isn't ready for that power and is testing out the new power subconsciously."

"Okay, so we've gone through Telekinesis and Invisibility." Kisa and Milla both blinked rapidly a couple of times. "And Clairvoyance. I suggest that I get out of here before my mind gets to something dangerous like PSI Blasting, Confusion, or Pyrokinesis." She shrugged off her mom and tried summoning her Thought Bubble. It appeared without a problem. She let out a sigh of relief and bounced up the staircase. This was getting worse by the minute.

Rule number 1: Don't open doors in your nightmares.

--

SC: And that, reviewers, is chapter 8. Just to clarify things: No, I'm not giving Kisa all her upgrades. I'm giving her the powers she had lost back. Here's an ability list for Sarah and Alphonse (btw, they're at the same rank. They both get trained equally, and it's another freaky psychic twin thing. Why? Because I say so.):

Marksmanship: Chain Blast (still learning)

Levitation: Wrecking Ball

Pyrokinesis: Thermal Detonation

Invisibility: Advanced Invisibility

Telekinesis: TK Extension

Shield: Offensive Shield

Clairvoyance

Confusion

As you can see, they're both at around 68. The next level would be Super Chain Blast at 70.

Now, here's Kisa's list, with a before/after unlocking the door (if it stays the same, there will only be one):

Palm Megabomb

Marksmanship: Chain Blast/Super Chain Blast (she already knew chain blast, therefore, it is upgraded ahead of schedule)

Levitation: None/ Wrecking Ball

Pyrokinesis: Thermal Detonation

Telekinesis: None

Invisibility: None/ Advanced Invisibility

Shield: None/ Offensive Shield

Clairvoyance

Confusion

So, as you can clearly see, Kisa is at only 60, maybe 61, and still weaker than Alphonse and Sarah. The reason she kept her upgrades like Palm Megabomb, Chain Blast, and Thermal Detonation is that they were her best skills and she used them so often that they were just burned into her mentality. I need at least four reviews before I'll start on the next chapter.

Ja ne!

SpontaneousCombustion


	9. Chapter 9

SC: Okay, this is more random filler crap because I FEEL LIKE IT! MUAHAHAHAHA! Ahem. Yes, let's move on now, shall we? Oh, btw, if you sent in a teacher (Miss Trippy, TheFarceHunter, MADZ!) I need you to send me some slightly detailed memories that you want Kisa, Al, Sarah, and the other people to find and where to find them. And, if you must be really specific, who you want to find them.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

--

Chapter 9

DIE SQUIRRELS!

Sarah ran up to Alphonse, who was on the Main Lodge's roof, meditating. "Al, have you seen Kisa?"

"Not since this morning, no. Why?" Her brother asked, now curious.

Emily looked at him, astounded. "You haven't heard? All the classes today have been canceled 'cause no one can find the Coach anywhere."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen mom, dad, Lili, or Raz in a while either." He muttered.

They heard an evil laugh. "DIE SQUIRRELS!"

"LEAVE THE POOR THINGS ALONE!" All three looked at each other and levitated down from the roof to see Becky Thorn shooting at a group of squirrels, Misha yelling at her to stop.

Emily shook her head and covered her eyes. "Oh for god's sake…" She telekinetically grabbed Becky and tossed her into a tree. "Misha, get some backbone, girl. You'll never get anywhere with people like Becky if you don't do anything except yell."

"I know, but…"

"You're a hippie and against violence?" Sarah asked.

"I'm not a hippie!"

Kisa walked up at that moment. "Did I miss something interesting?"

"Why in the world would you think that?" Alphonse asked.

"Well, I could here someone yelling something about squirrels a second ago, Becky Thorn's in a tree, and Misha's lying about not being a hippie."

"I'm not a- oh forget it." Misha grumbled. "Do you know where all the teachers are?"

"Um, my parents and Sasha and Milla are in Sasha's lab, Agent Mirnych is out in the forest fighting with a bear I think, Agent Yukari is in the Lodge, Ember's out by the Kid's Cabins, and there's someone here I don't know, but they're at the parking lot."

"Wait, how do you know that they're all in dad's lab? It's outside telepathy proof." Alphonse said.

Kisa bit her lip nervously. "Well, I… that is… oh, hi Sasha!" She let out a sigh of relief as Sasha, Milla, and her parents walked up.

"Kisa, you said someone you didn't recognize was here?" She nodded. "Where?"

"The parking lot."

Milla put a hand on Sasha's shoulder. "It could be Nala."

Raz and Lili shot each other a look behind their senior agents backs. "Nala _Sanders_?" Raz asked. "The one that's obsessed with you, Sasha? I thought she was locked up."

The kids giggled at the thought of someone, other than Milla of course, obsessing over Sasha. _Especially_ a crazy person. Sasha turned slightly pink. "Nala is coming here to rehabilitate, Razputin. And, unless you haven't noticed, we do not have a Confusion teacher on our staff."

"So? There wasn't a Confusion teacher here my first summer. Or one for Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis, Clairvoyance, or anything other than Levitation and PSI Blasting, and your training was unofficial, Sasha."

"That isn't the point. Besides, we have upgraded quite a bit since then." Sasha retorted.

"She really isn't all that bad a person, Raz." Lili said. "Besides, she's the best confusionist that the Psychonauts have."

"Whatever you say." He muttered. Lili glared at him.

_"Hey, if Milla can get along with her, so can you!"_ She told him telepathically.

_"Quite frankly, I think Milla fakes it. The woman wants her dead!"_ Lili cut off the link with an eye roll. 'Men.' Ember ran up. "There you guys are!"

Lili frowned. "Ember, what's wrong?"

"Morceau is missing. Akiko, Hazel, and I have looked EVERYWHERE for him!"

Raz suddenly had an idea. "I'll be right back." He turned and headed back towards the lake.

"Oh, and Nala's here." Ember grinned. "She's looking for Sasha."

Sasha glared at her behind his sunglasses. "Ember, keep looking."

The light-blue haired girl sighed. "All right, but I'm telling you he's not here. Did a whole mental sweep of camp. By the way, you might want to keep an eye on who's in what cabin." She laughed. "Some of our 'skirts' are turning into 'pants', if you get my drift." Ember walked off.

Sasha sighed. "I'll go talk to Nala." He walked toward the reception area, Milla floating behind him.

Lili shook her head. "I'll go help Ember and the rest find Coach Oleander."

As she walked off, Emily turned to Kisa. "Hey, when you named off all the teachers, you didn't say the Coach's name did you?"

Kisa shook her head. "Nuh-uh. And that's really weird. Normally once I've been in someone's mind, I can tell where they are pretty easily." She turned to Al and Sarah. "You two are stronger than I am, can't you find him?"

"We could try." Sarah said.

After a few minutes of 'trying', she and Alphonse opened their eyes. "I can't find him." She muttered.

"Wherever he is, Oleander is NOT in Whispering Rock." Alphonse said.

Misha turned to Kisa. "Hey, why was your dad heading down to the lake?"

Kisa frowned. "The lake…?"

XXX

Raz pulled out the horn that he kept with him at all times. He looked at it skeptically, wondering if it even worked still. With a shrug, he put it to his lips and blew. The bone-horn sounded loudly.

Seconds later, the giant form of Linda the Lungfish climbed out of the water. "Hello savior. What is it that you need?" She asked in that weird, watery voice.

"Linda, has anyone been crossing the lake lately? You know, to get over to Thorny Towers?"

Linda paused. "I do not believe so. I could transport you over there if you wish."

"No. I was just wondering. Thanks. Say hi to Pokeylope for me." She nodded and disappeared back into Lake Oblongata." Raz frowned as she disappeared. Maybe they hadn't actually _crossed_ the lake… he shook his head. Now he was just being paranoid. But if the Coach wasn't here, then where was he?"

XXX

SC: Yes, it's short. It's random filler crap, it doesn't have to be long.

What was that?

Why even bother putting it in? Hm, good point.

Oh fine, I'll get them into someone's mind.

XXX

"Dad, you do realize that you're the only teacher who's still doing classes today, right?" Sarah asked, watching the kids from the other cabins, which didn't have or already had Sasha's Marksmanship class. Since it was an actual class, and not just one or two kids, Sasha was holding it right outside the GPC, instead of inside his secret lab.

Sasha simply nodded and placed his Psycho Portal on his forehead. It pulled the students (and maybe a few squirrels) into his mind.

XXX

SC: okay, there's your mind entrance. Now go review, and yell at the people who sent me teachers (they're listed in the first author's note) to send me those memories I asked for, otherwise it's going to take me a long time to update.

Ja ne!

SpontaneousCombustion


	10. Chapter 10

Don't own Psychonauts. Now read.

Text Guide:

"Go" Normal speech

'Away' normal thoughts

'_freak'_ telepathic speech, broadcasted thoughts, whatever you want to call it.

SC: This is kind of a filler chapter, but they go through Sasha's mind and go to sleep, so… oh! And there's AlxKisa fluff!

--

Chapter 10 

What happened to the cube?

As the kids looked around Sasha's mind, which looked the same as it did last time Kisa, Alphonse, and Sarah were there, and found it quite boring compared to the minds that they'd visited today.

Emily raised her hand. "Um, Sa- er, Agent Nein? What are we supposed to do, exactly?"

Sasha smiled. Sarah and Alphonse suddenly knew that their father was plotting something. "Just one moment, Emily." He stepped on an invisible button, and the large cube they were sitting on suddenly started to shake. Walls the same pattern as the ground they were standing on shot up, separating most of them. Alphonse and Kisa jumped back, and into each other, as walls shot up on either side of them, cutting them off from Emily, Sarah, and Eli. Misha and Tony had been late.

"You will need to find your way through the maze, destroying any obstacle in your path." Sasha, who was sitting on one of the littler cubes floating through his head, smirked to himself. "And just to let you know, all the obstacles are fireproof, Confusion proof, and cannot be destroyed by throwing them into something else via Telekinesis."

Alphonse groaned. "He is so overdoing it."

"Hey, he's your dad." Kisa muttered, starting to walk forward.

Alphonse ran slightly to catch up with her. "Kisa? About earlier, in your dad's mind? I… erm…" 'Oh god, did I just say "erm"? That isn't even a word!' "I wanted to apologize for reading your mind."

Kisa slowed down to a reasonable pace. "It wasn't completely your fault. I should've had my shields up."'

Alphonse sighed. "So, we're good then?"

"Yeah. We're good, Alphonse."

"Al."

"What?"

"You… can call me Al." He blushed slightly.

Sasha, who was watching all of this, couldn't help smiling. But this was a training course, not somewhere for Alphonse to flirt, as much as he needed to practice. In a very out of character moment, Sasha decided 'what the heck', and made a Censor door pop up in front of them. Both of them jumped and PSI Blasted the little, stamp-wielding enemies into pieces.

His eyebrows rose as he saw Kisa's bullet ricochet off of not three Censors, but six! There was no way she could have improved that much within a day… now he was sure of it. Kisa had done _something_ in her mind that released a lot of power. He was going to keep an eye on her.

Al looked at Kisa. "Whoa, when'd you get the next upgrade?"

She shrugged. "Lots of practice paid off I guess." She grabbed his hand in a sudden streak of boldness. "Come on, I wanna go shoot more stuff!"

Sasha chuckled quietly. Kisa Aquato was definitely her father's daughter. 'I had better check on Sarah.' He thought, levitating over to a different cube. Sarah, Sarah… ah, there she was. And she was fighting a Strong Arm Censor. Of course, Sarah had to have found one of the only outlets with one of those. Sasha sat back and watched as she shot at it, then went Invisible as it came closer, ran behind it (he was tracking her psychic energy as she did this; hey, it's Sasha's head!), and started shooting again. Finally, it blew up, releasing Mental Health and Mean Little Balls of Hate.

And so, class proceeded without to many problems, except for when Becky Thorn (who else?) tried to set the wall on fire and it backfired and she got burned up instead, and everyone made it through to get their badges. Whoop dee-freaking doo.

Once out of Sasha's mind, Alphonse turned to Kisa. "Hey, do you want to, um…"

Sarah laughed. "What my brother is trying to say is would you like to take a walk with me?"

Alphonse glared at her, but Kisa laughed. "Sure, I'd love to." They both walked off, Kisa slipping her hand into Alphonse's, making him blush. And causing Eli, Misha, and Emily to start to do silly things like wolf whistles and catcalls while Tony pouted and Sarah sighed happily.

'It sure took him long enough.'

Alphonse glared at his sister over his shoulder. _'You do realize I can hear you?'_ She grinned and peace signed him. A sudden image of the diving helmet flashed through her mind, and she turned to Eli. He just grinned and offered her his hand, which she took and they ran off.

Tony grinned, an evil plot forming in his mind. "Well, looks like it's just us." He put an arm around Emily's shoulders. Or he tried to put an arm around her shoulders at least. Emily ducked beneath it just in time. And in accordance with gravity, and because Tony was trying to lean on a body that was no longer there, he fell on the ground, leaving him with a face full of broken up pinecones, dirt, and pine needles.

"Keep dreaming. Misha, you wanna go get something to eat?"

Misha, who was still laughing as Tony spat out pine needles, nodded and walked off behind Emily.

-Over with Kisa and Alphonse…-

"So how many girlfriends have you had?" Kisa asked, her feet dangling off the tree branch they were sitting on.

Al paused. "Um, two. One was back in kindergarten and lasted for about five minutes, and the other was… unofficial."

"Unofficial?"

He rolled his eyes. "This girl had a crush on me and started spreading it around the school that we were going out last year."

'Sounds like Jacob.' Kisa thought privately. "I can see why." Oh, wait a second. Had she just said that out loud? Crap, she had. Might as well finish embarrassing herself. "I mean, you are pretty cute." 'Okay, that without a doubt the dorkiest statement I have ever made…'

Alphonse blushed. "What about you?"

"Huh?" 'Nope, I take it back. **That** was the dorkiest statement I've ever made. "Oh, you mean boyfriends? None." Alphonse stared. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just… surprised."

Kisa tilted her head a little. "About?"

He paused. Great, now he'd painted himself into a corner. Nice one, Alphonse, now you have to tell her… well, there's no better approach than the direct one. (a/n: Sasha could argue that point, I bet.) "That someone as cute as you hasn't ever dated someone."

The Aquato's face flushed. "Oh… wow. Um, Alphonse, I, um…" 'I want you to just shut up and kiss me already!' She thought, immediately blushing darker when she realized he heard that.

A bit awkwardly, Alphonse leaned in to kiss her, but jumped away when an explosion came from the area of the Main Lodge. "What the hell-!"

XXX

Kisa and Alphonse ran up to see a large crowd of other kids already at the lodge. "What's going on?" Kisa asked aloud.

Sarah, who had been standing on Emily and Misha's shoulders to get a better look inside the lodge windows, shrugged. "I don't know, I can't see anything."

The doors opened suddenly, and Ember walked out. "Nothing to see here, kids, so get back to your cabins, and I mean YOUR cabins." The railing next to me started to smoke, and the group dispersed toward the Kids Cabins immediately.

XXX

Ember walked back inside. "Okay, the munchkins are gone, Sasha."

"Good." He muttered, occupied with Milla, who was lying on the ground, her eyes glazed over and her expression dazed.

Raz and Hazel were occupied holding back a very angry Nala Sanders, while Lili and Akiko tried to disable her powers. Suddenly, the fighting woman slumped in the two Psychonauts grips. Lili sighed as she pulled out of Nala's mind. "She's okay now, her mind's back to it's… err… normal state."

Akiko turned around, her big, anime-ish eyes wide(r). "Is Milla okay yet?"

As if on cue, the Mental Minx sat up in her husband's arms and put a hand to her pounding head. "Oh, my head… Sasha, darling, what happened?"

Sasha sighed with relief. Then, telepathically, _'Nala had one of her fits. She hit you with a Confusion Grenade before we managed to restrain her.'_ Milla nodded and floated up, albeit a bit more shakily and lower to the ground than usual.

"You sure you're okay Milla?" Raz asked. She nodded.

"I'll be fine darling. This isn't the first time I've been hit by a Confusion Grenade." 'This isn't the first time I've been hit by one of Nala's, either.' She added to herself.

XThat nightX

"What do you think was happening?" Kisa asked as she pulled her covers up to her chin.

Sarah shrugged. "I dunno. Me and Eli were just eating our burgers, then we heard a really angry scream, then dad and the rest of the teachers ran in and made all of us get out of there."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure they handled it, so can we please get some sleep?" Emily asked.

"Sure. G'night guys." Misha yawned.

"Night Misha. Night Sarah, Emily."

"Good night Kisa."

"Good night Kisa. Night Emily."

"Night Sarah. Night Mish-"

"Okay, no more. Just go to sleep already."

Silence. "Goodnight Sarah."

"Grr…"

--

SC: There is your almost completely pointless chapter ten. But I got an almost-kiss in there, so be proud of me! R&R, onegai!

Ja n3

SpontaneousCombustion

PS: Yes, I realize that there's a three there. I think it looks cool.


	11. Chapter 11

I don't own Psychonauts, DDR, or Akiko Yukari. Now, for all you freaks that actually look for these things just to report people: go away and rub a monkey's tummy with your head.

--

Chapter 11

Akiko Land!

'It's too damn early for a class.' Twenty or so kids thought as they all sat down at the busted down cabin to wait for their class to start. Everyone was half asleep still. What kind of insane teacher announces that they're having class right after breakfast! Obviously, one with black hair, anime-ish eyes, and bright, bubblegum pink lips, aka: Akiko Yukari.

Speaking of whom… "Ohayo gozaimasu kids!" She said, walking up. "Everyone ready? Good, let's go!" She slapped a Psycho Portal on her forehead and flicked it open.

You all know what happens next.

When everyone regained enough equilibrium to stand up straight, they looked around. Emily gaped at their surroundings. "It's a… it's a…"

"IT'S AN AMUSMENT PARK!" Sarah cheered, taking off towards the entrance. The sign above said entrance read 'Welcome to Akiko Land!'

"Sarah, wait up!" Eli and Misha called, racing off after her.

Emily turned to Kisa. "Roller coaster?"

"Oh hell yeah! C'mon Al!" The three of them ran off. Tony sighed. 'Left alone again…' His depression evaporated when he saw a group of girls chatting by something that looked oddly like a dance club. He grinned. 'Hello ladies.'

XXX

By the time Alphonse, Kisa, and Emily had reached the roller coaster, Eli and Sarah had already sitting in it. The three of them climbed in behind them. "Misha, you coming?" Emily called, the seat next to her empty.

The bug-eyed girl shook her head. "No thanks. I'm gonna find Tony and stop him from getting the shit beaten out of himself by some girl." She turned around. "Speaking of which…" Misha ran off.

None of our other PSI Cadets had time to think on this, however, because the safety bars of the roller coaster had just snapped down on them. A monitor above them (which had just popped out of nowhere) flashed on with the face of…

…a pink, chibi-fied Censor. WTF. It grinned at them and the coaster took off at high speed.

_"I'm gonna hurl if this thing doesn't stop soon!"_ Emily telepathically moaned.

_"You aren't the only one." _Three voices responded.

Kisa, who was the one voice that didn't respond, was staring at something ahead of them. _"Guys?"_

_"What?"_

_"There's a wall coming up fast. Very fast."_ Everyone turned to look at it. There was wall. And it was coming up toward them, very, very fast.

_"Everyone shield! Now!"_ Alphonse yelled, putting up his own dark blue one. Sarah and Eli followed with their pink and green ones, then Emily with her gray one. Kisa closed her eyes.

'Please work, please work…' She thought, pulling a shield out as well just before a loud crash made itself known.

Kisa peeked an eye open to see a dark violet bubble around her. 'Sweet! It worked!' The bubble popped as she stood up. "Uh, where's the wreckage?" She asked, looking around. They were back at the roller coaster's station, with nothing to signify the crash they'd just experienced.

"This is nuts." Sarah muttered.

"What's that?" Eli asked, pointing at something in front of them.

Alphonse raised an eyebrow. "It looks like an arrow from DDR." Everyone stared at him. "What? Am I not supposed to know what DDR is because I'm a guy?"

"He's actually pretty good at it." Sarah commented. "Almost beat mom once…" Everyone turned to stare at Alphonse again, but he had already grabbed Kisa's wrist and stomped off toward the left, which was where the arrow was pointing. Sarah sighed. "Geez, he gets so emotional when he's embarrassed."

XXX

"Alphonse, it's really nothing to get embarrassed about. I like Dance Dance Revolution." Kisa told me. I released my hold on her wrist.

"Yeah, I know. I just… don't like getting stared at…" I turned to look at her, and she was staring at me, her eyes purposely wide open. "Very funny." I muttered.

She blinked, smiling. "I thought so." She looked around. "Hey, is that a… movie theater?"

I looked in the direction she was pointing. "Yeah. Look at the now playing sign: 'Summer Camp.' Should we check it out?"

"I guess… but it's probably a memory."

"Well, I'm not going on any more rides."

"Good point, let's go!"

Xand we skip right to the memory…X

A twelve-year-old Akiko stood outside a small, wooden cabin, banging on the door. Her ponytails were barely past the nape of her neck, and sat on top of her head. Instead of her usual garb, she was wearing a short, blue skirt and matching, sailor-esque top and she had a backpack on. The dice earrings were still there, and she had a black skull pinned to the flap of her bag. Her eyes were wider than usual in fear, perhaps. "Guys! Let me in! _Onegai_!"

A twig cracked behind her.

Akiko turned around, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Who-whose there!" She squeaked out.

Something dropped onto her head, and she screamed and swatted at it madly. A large spider dropped to the ground and scuttled off. Another one crawled over her shoe, and she let out another shriek, kicking it off. She looked around. There were spiders everywhere! Her vision twisted and the insects suddenly grew in size, until they were as big as her head.

Another twig snapped, and the bushes rustled all around the cabin. "Leave me alone!" Akiko yelled, the tears now spilling down her face. The eerie noises just became louder and more frequent. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and Akiko ran further into the woods.

Akiko's fear and psychic powers were mixing, and made everything distort into something scarier and more dangerous than it was, and the intensity only increased the farther she ran. Rocks had glaring eyes. Howls and shrieks came from every direction. Faces leered out at her from the forest. Tree branches became grabbing claws that wanted her flesh torn and blood spilled.

Finally, something, other than a terrifying unreal face caught her attention. It was a shack. A telekinetic hand wrenched the rusty door open, and she dove inside, slamming the door shut behind her. She curled up in a ball in the corner, away from the door and under a window, and fell asleep.

Three days pass. During that time, Akiko hears the calls of search teams trying to find her. Subconsciously, she shields the shed she hides in from their sight. They pass by it every time, never noticing it there. She survives off the few snacks in her backpack. When they run out, she realizes she has no choice _but_ to go back to the camp.

Akiko glances at the watch on her wrist. Noon. That meant everyone should have been getting ready to go swimming. Stiffly, for she hadn't moved much in the time she had spent in the small, abandoned shack, she stood and walked back to camp.

This time, there were no faces leering at her from between the trees, no staring eyes, no claws trying to rip her apart.

Her timing was perfect; everyone was down at the lake, except for three people. Akiko drew closer, hiding behind the trees still, and realized that the girls were none other than Michelle, Emma, and Alison; her bunkmates.

"I can't believe she fell for it." Michelle laughed, her high voice pitching higher with laughter. She tossed a stray, waist length brown hair over her shoulder.

"I know," Emma, who stood a good head over Michelle, snorted with disbelief. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. "I mean, I know Akiko's weird, but did you see the way she freaked out? It was like she went insane."

Alison, a fiery redhead with a temper to match, laughed loudest, resting her hands over her stomach. "Seriously. As fast as she ran off, I figure, in three days… she probably ran all the way back home by now!"

Tears that she refused to shed filled Akiko's eyes as her so-called 'friends' laughed about her fear. Silently, she snuck past them and back into her cabin. She collapsed onto her bunk, burying her face in her pillow. Reaching underneath it, she pulled out a small, black kitten plushie and hugged it to her chest. "Is that really what they think of me? That I'm a freak?" She pulled her knees up to her chest. "What… what if I really am a freak?"

"_Of course you aren't._" A whispery voice… well, whispered.

"But… but I can… I can see things, hear peoples thoughts… a-and I floated that one time!"

"_That just makes you special._" The glass eyes sewn into the plushie cat's head glinted with a spark of… something bad. "_They just can't see it. They need to be punished._"

Akiko was sitting up now, staring down at the cat in her lap. "P-punished?" She sniffled. "But, I-I can't. That would be wrong."

"_And what they did to you wasn't wrong?_" The cat asked, leaning its cloth head to one side inquisitively.

"I c-can't."

"_Look in the mirror, and then tell me what you can or can't do._"

Obediently, Akiko got up and walked to the end of the bed, over to the wall where one of the few good mirrors in camp hung, her eyes closed. She opened them when her hands, which she'd been using to guide her through the room, felt cool glass.

The sight that met her was a little girl in great need of a shower. Her face was covered with dirt, insect blood, her own blood, and other things that you would badly want to wash away. One of her ponytails had come undone, and she had twigs, leaves, and, yuck, more unidentifiable substances in her hair.

"_It's they're fault that you look like this. They deserve to be, no, NEED to be punished. Show them what your gifts can REALLY do._"

Akiko's eyes hardened as she remembered all the pranks and tricks that had been pulled on her over the past few weeks. With every one, her anger grew and grew, until it exploded out of her.

Literally.

Akiko levitated into the air, plush still in hand, as the chunks of wood that used to be her cabin rained down in a one-mile radius.

She floated toward the lake, every cabin she passed either being torn apart (Telekinesis), spontaneously combusting (Pyrokinesis), or blowing apart (PSI Blasting).

By now, everyone had run back into camp to see what the commotion was. At the sight of the psychic girl, reactions were mixed; some screamed, some fainted, a few even fell to their knees in prayer, but all of them were very, very scared. A Telekinetic hand shot out and wrapped around three figures: Michelle, Emma, and Alison.

"_You thought a was a freak before, huh? Well, what about now! Am I a freak now! Am I to weird for you? Let me tell you something; _I'm_ not the freak. _I'm_ not the weirdo. YOU THREE ARE!_" With that, Akiko tossed the three girls onto the roof of one of the collapsing cabins nearby.

Well, that's where she had tried to aim them, anyway.

The three unconscious figures stopped in midair and floated to the ground gently as something that hurt Akiko's mind as well as her body slammed into her neck and she fell to the ground instead.

Akiko braced herself for a hard, painful landing on the splintered cabin that was below her, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see a man about twenty or so years older than her holding her in his arms. He had pale skin with an odd green-ish tint to it, dark crimson shades, and messy black hair. "See Milla? She's fine." He commented in a heavily German-accented voice accompanied by a slight smirk.

"I still say PSI Blasting her out of the air was a bit harsh, darling." A woman's voice, the accent definitely Brazilian, scolded. A hand touched her forehead. "Don't worry, sweetie. You're safe now."

Akiko tried to sit up; a pointless task since Sasha (who else?) was holding her and she therefore had nothing to sit up on. "Am I in trouble?"

Milla shook her head. "No, darling, of course not. Akiko, you're what we like to call 'gifted.' A psychic. We're going to take you to a camp that can help you to control these powers, alright?"

XXX

"Well, that was interesting." Alphonse muttered, walking out of the cinema.

Kisa shrugged. "Is it me, or do all of our teachers seem to have childhood trauma issues?"

"Well… yeah, but we were raised by psychic parents. Think of what it would be like if we weren't." He slammed face first into something. "Ow!"

"Nice." Kisa commented, looking at what he slammed into. "Hey, it's another arrow." She started walking in the direction it was pointing. "C'mon Al!"

"Give me a second to recover from my almost concussion, would you?" He called, standing and running after her.

After following DDR arrows for many complicated twists and turns, the two teens emerged from a hedge maze (of DOOM!) to see what looked like a Japanese mansion. **(a/n: you know, one of those really old ones with the sliding paper doors and 'no shoes' rule.)** An arrow above them pointed forward, toward it.

With a quick glance at each other and a shrug, they walked forward and pushed the door open.

Akiko popped out of nowhere when they did. "Kisa-chan! Al-kun! Better late than never, ne? Everyone's waiting in the garden." She chirped, walking down the hall. "By the way, you two look so kawaii in those outfits!" She disappeared with a poof.

Kisa and Alphonse looked down at their outfits. "What the hell?" Instead of their regular outfits, they were both wearing yukata **(aka: summer kimonos. Everyone knows what a kimono looks like, right?)**. Alphonse's was dark blue while Kisa's was emerald green.

Kisa started down the hall after Akiko, but Al stopped her and pointed to, you guessed it, another DDR arrow pointing the opposite direction. "Come on, Kisa."

XXX

'Something's wrong…' Ember thought. "Hey, Sasha?"

"What?" He asked, more like snapped, not even sparing a glance from his precious Brain Tumbler.

"… Never mind, it's not anything important." The teenager muttered, walking up the staircase. "I think I'm gonna go look for Coach Oleander again, 'kay?"

Sasha grunted. Ember rolled her eyes. Nein was cool and all, but when he started working… oi, did he get moody. 'Men.' She thought, slipping through the cave that connected the Wilderness/GPC area to Lake Oblongata. Ember glared at the water covering the cave bottom. 'At least these aren't new boots.'

Suddenly, a whisper caught her attention. The blue-haired girl whipped around. "Whose there?" The cave was still empty. She took a step back and ran into something. With a very OOC shriek, she whipped around, the ivy covering the damp walls sizzling slightly. 'Stupid wet stuff and its… un… burny… ness. Gah, screw it.'

"Ember, relax, it's just me."

The teen dropped her hands from in front of her. "Lili? You scared the shit outta me, go visible will ya'?"

The older agent did so, making it much easier for Ember to speak to her. "What are you doing down here?"  
Lili shrugged. "Just getting some peace and quiet. Raz is nowhere to be found, so I can't bother him, Sasha's working, and Milla is busy clearing up some mental cobwebs."

"What about Akiko and Hazel? Or Nala?"

"Class, class, and busy stalking Sasha or something."

"Oh."

Lili crossed her arms. "Wait, what are YOU doing down here?"

"I was, uh…" Ember stuttered. "I was going down to the lake to try and sense Coach Oleander again."

Lili sighed. "It's pointless. Milla, Sasha, Raz, and I did a full mental sweep of the surrounding area. Raz even tried getting into his mind through the Collective Unconscious, but the door was locked."

Ember bit her lip nervously. "You don't think he's… you know… dead, do you?"

"No way. Morry wouldn't go down without a fight. And trust me, we'd SEE that."

Ember smiled a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm gonna head down to the lake anyway, you know, commune with nature or whatever it's called." Lili nodded and Ember walked off, humming some random song. Suddenly, she stopped, turned around, and PSI Blasted the Aquato.

"Ember, what are you doing? Have you gone insane?"

The wind whipped through Ember's blue ponytail wildly, making it look like bright blue flames were coming out of her head. "You aren't Lily!"

Lily, or the thing calling itself Lily, smirked. "Very smart. How'd you know?"

Ember shifted into her fighting stance, which was the usual 'touch forehead with hand' thing, only she had her other hand held out in front of her, her index and middle fingers held up and touching, and she was crouched down slightly, looking slightly like a martial artist.

"Well, for one thing, Lili wouldn't go Invisible just cause she heard someone coming. Two, Lili doesn't like 'peace and quiet.' She's a Psychonaut; action is her life! Three, your aura is way off. Lili's is black and hot pink, not gold. And four, in all the time I have known her, Lily has never, EVER called the Coach 'Morry'." Ember glared. "So who are you and where's Lili?"

The Lili-thing grinned at Ember, showing pointy fangs. "You're right, Ms. Loire. I am not Lilianna Aquato. But don't you worry. She's perfectly fine. In fact, she's having lunch with her husband in the Main Lodge right now." Ember reached out a tendril of thought and confirmed that Lili was in fact eating lunch with Raz. She made an attempt at strengthening it, but received a sharp jolt.

"Ah-ah. I can't let you do that." The thing looked nothing like Lily now. It was a blob of massive shadow, and it was forming into something else. A hand formed, and in it, sat something green.

'Confusion Grenade!' Ember's mind screamed before the pin was pulled, and the object thrown. The green smoke clouded Ember's senses, and the reasoning part of her mind shut down.

Giggling giddily, Ember took a few wobbly steps forward, and accidentally tripped herself. Her head hit the rock ground through the water, and the confusion was replaced with pain and semi-consciousness.

The shadow, which had been starting to look more and more human-shaped, suddenly regained it's blobby form, and enveloped Ember. "If you want to find Morceau Oleander so badly, Ms. Loire, I'll take you right to him." It hissed, sinking into the ground and taking Ember with it.

In her last moment of coherent thought, Ember connected her stream of telepathy to someone else's, someone powerful, and sent out a weak message. _'Help…'_

XXX

Suddenly, in the midst of screwing a bolt in on his Brain Tumbler, Sasha Nein's head jerked up.

--

SC: Okay, writer's block is still here, but I'm slowly wearing it down… and I've finally got some of the bloody plot in there! And before anyone asks, Ember thinks of Sasha as a sort-of fatherly figure and mentor, like Raz does. She was one of those students who excelled at her classes and was also given a trip into her own mind with the Brain Tumbler. Don't argue with me, I'll do whatever I want with my story. But, yeah, that was why she was in Sasha's lab.

Ja ne

SC


	12. Chapter 12

SC: Woot! No more (well, almost no more) writer's block! Yea!

Disclaimer: There's a disclaimer in one of the previous chapters. Go look for it there.

--

Chapter 12

M.I.A Ember?

Kisa and I followed the arrow out of the hallway and into a large, decorated garden. "Oookay… am I the only one confused?" Kisa asked under her breath.

I shook my head. "No."

"Good."

"Kisa! Al!" Sarah ran over, dressed in a light pink kimono similar to Kisa's. "Took you long enough."

"We got sidetracked."

Sarah raised an eyebrow and I blushed. "Nothing like that! God Sarah, get your mind out of the gutter."

She giggled. "C'mon, everyone's waiting."

"Everyone?" Kisa asked. "Who's 'everyone'?" Sarah pulled her around the corner and we both saw that 'everyone' included the rest of the girl's cabin, Eli, Tony, and, to Kisa's extreme displeasure, Becky Thorn. There were also several Japanese family members sitting around the table. "Ah. Everyone."

The man at the head of the table, who looked strangely like he could be Akiko's father, smiled. "Welcome. Please, sit." The three of us had hardly gotten into their seats when another figure, fully clad in samurai armor, ran into the garden.

"We are under atta-" He cut off with a choke and fell to the ground, a knife sticking out of the space between his helmet and chest plate. Someone let out a scream (it sounded a lot like Eli) and I leapt up.

"We need to get out of here." Sarah said. Suddenly, looking at the family members and how many there were, I realized what Akiko's test was.

xXx

Al threw a shield up around a boy about our age just in time to have a shuriken bounce off it. _"We have to protect the family members!"_ He explained in telepathy.

This task was made much more difficult by the fact that half the family had scattered already, the exception being two young children, maybe four or five, who were hiding behind a tree in the corner. I walked over and offered them my hand. The boy took my hand eagerly, but little girl took my hand my other one hesitantly. I couldn't help smiling. Too cute!

Quickly, I looked around. Not seeing anyone (literally. The others ran off), I turned back to my two 'protectees'. "Do you two know how to get out of here?"

They nodded and tugged me into the house. Immediately, I put up a shield, sending a couple daggers flying back at the ninja who threw them. He disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the knives to hit the wall with a resounding 'think' and stick there.

Three hallways, two rooms, and nearly seven attacks later (the third one was actually just a cat whose tail I scorched with a startled PSI Blast), I sensed a large psychic energy around the next corner. I peeked around it, ready to shield if necessary, to see Becky Thorn. She looked like she was ready to snap and jumpier than the cat I'd scared.

I groaned, cursing my conscience. Stepping into the hall, I asked, "Are you lost or something?"

She whipped around and I realized that none of the family members were with her. "Aquato? What do you want?"

My common sense suddenly overpowered my conscience and reminded me that this was the girl who had seemed to have her heart set on torturing everyone at Whispering Rock. I glared at her. "You know, I was gonna try to help you, but forget it."

I turned to leave. "Wait!"

"What?" I glared at her over my shoulder.

Becky fidgeted slightly. "Look, I've been running around here for the last twenty minutes trying to find somebody to help out so I could get my Merit Badge for this, alright? And…" She wrinkled her nose. "And I could really use your help."

I felt the little girl let go of my hand and walk over to Becky. "She slipped her pale hand in Becky's. She looked a bit startled.

"Oh so this is where you were leading me." I laughed. "I guess she was supposed to go with you, but you ran off with everyone else."

"Whatever, can we just get out of here? I'm REALLY sick of these ninjas."

"Amen to that." I muttered, walking down the hall.

xXx

"I think the others are up here." Kisa muttered.

Becky looked at her dryly. "No! Is that why I can sense a huge amount of psychic energy."

"Really starting to wish I'd let you take that last turn and met up with that group of ninjas waiting at the end of the hall." Becky grew quiet, but her eyes widened as she turned the next corner.

"Holy--!" Becky cursed. Everyone was hiding behind potted plants or support beams. Why you ask? Because there was a really freaking huge ninja at the end of the hall. More like a sumo ninja.

Alphonse turned around. "Would you two hide before you get hit?"

Both girls jumped behind a vase, taking their respective 'charges' with them. Not surprisingly, Kisa was closer to Alphonse. "What's going on?"

"Don't know. We've tried to blast it every way we can, but it keeps disappearing and then reappearing, and we're all out of ammo."

Emily nodded. She was hiding behind the roof support beam a few yards ahead of Alphonse. "We've tried Confusion Grenades, PSI Blasts, and TK-ing pots at it, setting it aflame, and every other freaking thing we could think of."

"What about shielding and reflecting the weapons back at it?" Kisa suggested.

Sarah, who was hiding in a doorway with Eli and the head of the house and an older woman, probably a grandma, shook her head. "Well… we would try that… only his weapons are about as big as my head!"

Becky tapped Kisa's shoulder. "Hey, back in Ember's mind, didn't you guys have to work together to get backstage?" Kisa stared at her. "I was up on the rafters, remember? I could see everything."

Misha, who was behind the beam next to them, grinned. "Hey! What if we created a really big shield together? Do you think that it would be big enough to block the-" She stopped as a shuriken that was really as big as Sarah flew past them.

"Um, Mish? Just one problem." Tony called. "How the heck do you plan on doing that? Unless you've forgotten, our shields are about… ye big." He held his hand about three feet off the floor.

"Well…um… I haven't exactly thought of that yet." She confessed. "We'd all have to get into one area and be able too… I dunno, hold hands or something."

Kisa rolled her eyes. "Great plan. Still one problem: how do we get past El Ninja Grande down there?"

"Well, every time we threw something at him and missed, he'd turn the OTHER direction to see what it was." Sarah suggested.

"For how long?"

She paused. "Well… um… it matters what we throw at him."

Kisa let out a long sigh. "All right, let's get started."

xXx

Nine shattered vases later, most of us were all huddled in the room Sarah and Eli had been standing in. A few of the shots had actually hit the ninja, which they weren't supposed to do, and therefore became wasted ammo. Now, you may wonder what I meant when I said 'most of us'. Well…

"Becky, come on!" Kisa yelled.

The Goth shook her head. "And get skewered? No thanks Aquato!"

I looked over at Kisa, who looked about ready to strangle someone. "Just go Invisible and run!" Her green eyes lit up. "Wait, I just got an idea. Stay there."

"Like I have a choice?"

Kisa glared at her over her shoulder before turning to all of us. "We can go Invisible and pull up a shield before the ninja can do anything!"

"Are you sure that this will work?" Sarah asked, turning toward me.

He shrugged. "It should… in theory…" Sarah stared at me. "What? I've never tried this before!"

"No, it's just that you're starting to sound WAY too much like dad." She said.

Emily stepped between us. "Don't you two start arguing now."

Kisa smiled at her. "Thanks. Everyone ready?" She asked, slipping her hand into mine. I blushed a little and grabbed Sarah's. "On three. One… two… three!" I concentrated on making my self Invisible, nearly tripping as Kisa tugged me out the door. In my head, I was counting 'one one-thousand, two one-thousand, etc'. We had ten seconds, approximately, to stay unseen, and if we got seen before we managed to put a shield up…

Becky jumped suddenly, seemingly grasping thin air. "Calm down, it's just me." Kisa said.

"Kisa, five seconds." I warned.

"Alright, everyone shield now!" She yelled. I pulled my Thought Bubble out and saw myself fade back into a visible range.

Which meant so did Ninj-zilla.

A huge shuriken came flying at us, spinning like a buzz saw. 'We aren't going to make it.' I thought in panic.

Then, as if just to contradict me, a huge multi-colored shield shot up in front of our line, stopping the throwing star mere feet away.

The metal weapon strained against our shield, bending it in toward us. I felt the strain pulling at my mind, and I had to fight to keep my concentration. Just when I thought that I'd have to drop my part of the shield, the shimmering wall snapped back like a rubber band, shooting the star back at the ninja. It hit him, and he disappeared with a 'poof'. The shield dropped and we all collapsed to the floor.

"Holy shit…" Eli gasped.

Tony grunted. "You said it."

"I didn't think that we could actually do that…" Becky muttered, leaning up against the wall.

"Great job kids!" All of us turned to see Akiko standing behind us. "No one else has ever even thought of that!" She grinned. "But most don't usually run into this big guy." She handed them all a violet Merit Badge. "Here you go, you all really deserve it!" Suddenly, she looked off into space. "Sasha?" A pause. "Nani! Ember's what! Hai, I'll be right there."

She turned back to us. "Hold on, kids, emergency exit!"

.o0o.

About a dozen kids sat up, holding their heads and groaning. "Gomen ne, everyone, but class is getting dismissed early!" I told them. "Everyone needs to go to the Main Lodge and stay there until one of us says otherwise, okay?" They all nodded and stood somewhat shakily, walking off toward the Lodge while I ran off toward the Reception Area.

I got there quickly to see that Sasha and Raz hadn't arrived yet, but everyone who had looked nervous. "Nala, it's not true, is it? Ember's not gone too, is she?" I asked frantically.

Nala sighed. "We can't sense her anywhere, Akiko. And Sasha said that he heard a cry for help…"

She stopped as Raz and Sasha walked into the area. "We tracked her down to the cave connecting the forest to the docks, but her signature disappears there." Sasha said.

Raz shook his head. "We couldn't find her."

Milla gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "Oh no…"

Hazel frowned. "Any ideas of what happened?"

Sasha held up a small test tube that had some sort of black ooze in it. "It was on the mouth of the cave. I believe it may have been left by whoever took Ember and Morceau."

I turned toward Raz, sensing he was thinking really hard about something. "What's wrong?"

Raz blinked. "What? Oh, nothing." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lili and Milla nod slightly. Something was up, but I knew well enough not to pry.

Hazel stood. "Akiko, we should go get the kids back into their cabins." I nodded and followed her up the path.

She opened the door to the Lodge and I stepped in front of her. "Konichiwa! Listen up guys, if you've got classes with Sasha or Raz today, they're cancelled until tomorrow, okay?"

About ten kids cheered. "Everyone else, you have class in an hour, so get ready." Hazel said, walking off.

.o0o.

"What do you think happened?" Kisa muttered as the group walked back to their cabins.

Sarah and Al opened their eyes. "Ember's gone; just like the Coach." Alphonse said.

"But her signature's still really strong down around the lake." Sarah piped up.

Kisa stopped, a plan forming in her mind. "Kisa…" Misha said. "I don't like that look. It's getting me worried."

"I'm going down to the lake." She said with an abrupt finality before running off.

.o0o.

I shivered as the cold water that covered the cave bottom soaked through my jeans. I looked around, trying to find the source of the signature. A purple glow caught my eye, and I went toward it. Reaching into the water, I pulled out a light blue scrunchie with a skull and crossbones embroidered in black thread with a couple of diamonds for eyes. It was soaking wet. As I stared at it, I realized that the 'diamonds' were actually made of Psitanium.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. My mind was pulled from my body as I tapped into my ability of Clairvoyance.

It was… dark. I could feel my arms, Ember's arms, being suspended above her head, and I realized she was conscious. She was just blindfolded. There was some noise in the background… waves?

"Kisa? What are you doing down here?"

I opened my eyes to see my dad standing in front of me. He looked down at my closed fist. "What are you holding?"

I relaxed my fingers and opened them to reveal Ember's scrunchie. "It was lying in the water." I told him. "I was trying to find were she was with Clairvoyance, but I couldn't get anything."

He was silent for a minute. "I think we should show this to Sasha."

xXx

SC: Okay, new chapter finished. Finally, I'm done with Akiko's mind! Not that I didn't like it, mind you, it was just the only one I needed to do almost two full chapters for. Anyway, I hope you liked it Miss Trippy! I tried REALLY hard!

Anyway, read and review please!

Ja ne

SC


	13. Chapter 13

SC: Okay, this chapter is for you, Farcie! We're finally going into Hazel's head! Does everyone know what that means?

Puck: No. You and your schizo spawned personalities do, not them.

SC: Oh… right… well, what it means is that we only have TWO more counselor's minds, and then we can get on with finding out why the hell I'm making all the people disappear! Aren't you excited?

Puck: No…

SC: Well that's cuz you already know what's going to happen! Go catch plot bunnies before my reviewers start trying to bribe you with tuna or catnip or something!

Puck: Hm…

SC: GO NOW!

Puck: Okay, okay! I'm going! Jeez… little Miss Irritable…

SC: I heard that! By the way, I promise there won't be as much POV switching anymore… or I'll try to not make there be as much…

--

Chapter 13

The Mind of Myrnich

Raz and Kisa walked up to Hazel to see that she was in a trance. 'Probably getting ready for class.' Raz thought. "Hazel."

She opened an eye. "Hello Raz." Her gaze drifted to the scrunchie in Raz's hand, and she gasped. "Is that--?!"

He nodded. "Ember's, yes."

Hazel stood and, after straightening her skirt, walked over, holding her hand out. Raz dropped the wet fabric into her outstretched palm. "Good luck."

She nodded and closed her eyes. The Psitanium began crystals glowed brighter, and the glow soon spread to the entire scrunchie. After a few minutes, Hazel flinched and her brow furrowed. Sweat began to bead on her forehead, and her breathing increased in speed. After five minutes, her eyes snapped open and she fell to her knees, dropping the scrunchie.

"Agent Myrnich!"

"Hazel!" Both Aquatos knelt down next to her. Well, Kisa didn't actually have to kneel, but you get my point.

Myrnich shook her head. "No, I'm alright."

Raz gripped her forearm firmly and pulled her back to her feet. _"What did you see?"_

She closed her eyes. _"I'm not sure… too jumbled… she might've been hit with a confusion grenade…" _Hazel sighed. _"I'll try to sort it out and tell everyone later tonight._" She looked up to see that a group of students were walking down the wooden stairs that led to the beach. _"At the moment, I have a class to teach."_

Kisa looked from Hazel to her father. She hated being left out on things! "Have fun Kisa." Raz told his daughter before walking off.

She glared at her father's back. 'Yeah. Right.'

_"I heard that."_ Kisa stuck her tongue out at him as he levitated up past the wooden stairs. Emily and Sarah walked down.

"What was that about? I'd think you're old enough to walk to class by yourself." Emily teased.

Kisa forced a smile. "Ah, it was nothing. Dad just had to talk to Agent Myrnich, so he walked down with me."

Sarah nodded. "So… what did you need to check out at the lake?"

"Eh… not really anything. I just wanted to see if Hazel was here yet. She wasn't, so I headed back up to the Lodge. My dad was there, and he said Hazel was down here, so…"

Hazel walked over, saving Kisa from having to make up a fake explanation for any longer. "If you're all ready, let's get started." She levitated a PSI Portal to her forehead.

Kisa's POV

When I regained my senses enough to open my eyes, I saw that I was standing at the entrance of a huge hedge maze. I sighed. "Man, I am so sick of mazes…" I walked in a ways before stumbling on a black feather. Picking it up, I frowned. "Now where'd you come from?" My question was immediately answered as I looked up to see a bunch of crows flying over my head, and for some reason, I suddenly remembered that a flock of crows was called a 'murder'. Cheery, isn't it?

Looking back down with a feather, I wondered what I was supposed to do with it. 'Duh, Kisa. It's Clairvoyance, remember?' Focusing, I projected my mind into whichever one of the crows the feather had come from, and suddenly, I was looking down on myself and the maze.

'Okay, let's see. Turn, go past three more turns, take the second left, turn right, right, gah, too many directions!' I pulled out of the crow's head and went as far as I could remember before I heard a memory vault running around. Peering down the way opposite of where I was supposed to go, I saw the vault trying to go through the wall of leaves and branches. Grinning, I ran up and punched it, picking up the reel it spit out. I hit the play button and found myself standing in a school hallway.

Hazel, who looked about my age now, was looking down the hall after a group of girls. Suddenly, voices poured in from everywhere.

_"God, what a freak. Doesn't she realize the only reason we hang out with her because she's smart?"_

_"Hazel's such a gullible nerd."_

_"That little loser is the only reason I'm passing, so she had BETTER keep doing all my work for me, even though she thinks she's helping."_ The rest of the comments were all basically the same. Tears formed in Hazel's eyes and she turned and ran down the hall in the opposite direction. The scene changed and I was suddenly standing in the living room in a cozy, if not somewhat small, house.

"Why can't I change schools?" Hazel asked a figure who I assumed was her mother.

"Hazel, we've gone over this. There aren't any other schools close enough. Besides, it's so late in the year! Why do you want to switch schools, sweetie?"

Hazel opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it. "Never mind."

I memory blacked out there and I was back in the maze. Ouch. That had to have really hurt Agent Myrnich. 'I guess I'm not the only one who had school troubles…' I thought, pulling the crow feather out of my pocket again. I looked along the path I had to travel for a little longer, and then ran down it.

About halfway, I ran into another memory vault, and I punched it before it had a chance to turn and run. The memory reel was titled: "It's over."

This time, Hazel looked a few years older, around sixteen maybe. She was walking around behind a curtain nervously. "Okay Hazel, you can do this." She peered out of a crack in the curtain, and I heard music floating out from behind it.

"Myrnich, Hazel." Someone called from outside the curtain. Hazel took a deep breath and walked onstage. I saw three people sitting in the front row of seats. "You may begin when you're ready."

Hazel opened her mouth and began to sing. I stared, a little surprised. She was really, REALLY good. I couldn't tell what song it was, but it was definitely an opera song. Then, suddenly, she just stopped mid-note. She was staring at the judges in shock and anger. Then, without warning, she turned and walked out. I looked at the judges before quickly, who were just as shocked. I ran over behind them and looked at the lists. Two out of the three were blank, just gray splotches on the table, but one was clear as day, and it had the top four blanks filled in.

I frowned. That wasn't right; judges couldn't give out parts until the tryouts were over. It took me a second to realize what had happened. The judges had given parts to their kids! Hazel must've accidentally Clairvoyance on this judge and saw the list!

The scene changed and I was standing in a bathroom, obviously still at Hazel's school, to see a crying Hazel sitting in one of the stalls. She got up after a minute and I noticed the black-splotched wad of toilet paper in her hands. A quick look at her face confirmed that her makeup had started running down her face. She went over to the sink and grimaced at her tear and mascara stained face. "That's it; I'm through. No more singing." She waded up the tissue in her hands angrily and threw it at the mirror before storming out.

I looked around as the bathroom faded out and I was back in the maze. I pulled the feather out of my pocket and used Clairvoyance on it quickly.

The view was blurred and covered in gray. I cursed; out of range! Tossing the feather to the ground, I looked around, only to see nothing that would help me. "Shoot!" I stomped my foot in anger, and felt something hard under my shoe. I lifted it to see an acorn under it. "You have got to be kidding me." I muttered, picking it up. I looked around to see a squirrel sitting in the tree above me, unmoving. 'Where'd that tree come from?' I shook my head and concentrated on the acorn.

Suddenly, I was shooting up the side of the tree, stopping only when I got to the top. I had a full layout of the maze.

I pulled out with a grin. I was almost to the exit. Then I heard it; the sound of a vault just ahead of me. I tried to walk past the dead end it was down, but had to stop. 'Agh! It's dad's fault I'm so curious!' I ran down there and reached for the vault's handle, tugging it open. It jumped and landed on it's "stomach", spitting out its memory reel. I hit play quickly…

And I was standing in an office in Psychonauts HQ, American branch. I looked around. Obviously, it had to be Hazel's office, so where was she?

My question was answered a second later when she walked in. She couldn't have been much younger than she was now; her choice in clothes had definitely not changed much since whenever now was. She sat down at her desk and looked forlornly at the papers covering it. With a sigh, she grabbed a pen.

That was about as close to doing work as she got. For the next few minutes, she played with the papers, tapped her pen, and basically just procrastinated. Nervously, she got up and walked over to the door. Looking up and down the hall, she shut her door. Sitting back down at her desk, she took a deep, shaky breath and sung out the first few lines of _Madame Butterfly_.

The doorknob turned and she stopped abruptly. And the one and only Sasha Nein poked his head in. "Hazel? Was that you?"

Hazel was turning bright red. "Um… no… I, ah, had my radio on."

Sasha raised an eyebrow. Then, with a small grin, he said, "I see." And then he walked out, shutting the door behind him. Looking around the room, I noticed that there _was_ no radio in Hazel's office.

That memory ended and I was back in the maze. I put the reel back in the vault and it leapt up, running off. Or trying to at least; it, like the first vault, was trying to run through the hedge behind it. I shook my head and started back on the path toward the exit.

As the walls of green came to an end, I saw a very familiar figure standing there and felt the heat rise to my face. "Hi Al."

He smiled. "Hi." He fell in pace with me as I walked.

We were silent for a minute. "Were… were you waiting for me?" I asked, a little giddy because I already knew the answer.

His pale face was tinted pink now. "Was it that obvious?"

"Only a little." I told him, though it was a lie. But I still had to fight off giggles. God, how old was I? Three? We walked up to where Hazel was waiting for us, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Kisa, am I going to have to tell your daddy to keep an eye on you two?" Hazel asked. Al and I both turned crimson (well, Al did, but my face felt pretty dang warm too). "Don't worry. I'm only teasing." She handed them both one of the pink/purple badges sporting a pair of yellow-ish eyes in the center. "Here's your Clairvoyance badges. I won't give you a 'use them responsibly' speech, considering who your parents are. But don't make me regret it, alright?"

We both nodded and I closed my eyes as we were shoved out of Hazel's mind.

I sat up dizzily. "You know, closing your eyes doesn't make you any less dizzy." I shook my head and felt sand fall down my back. "And I have sand in my hair. Perfect."

Al walked over, laughing a little. "Take a shower, it'll come out." He helped me up and we walked off toward the steps to go back to the Main Lodge. "So… um…" I looked up at him, causing me to trip on the steps. I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and stop me from falling. Well, for a few seconds. Then I fell to a tangled heap on the stairs.

"Ow!" I had twisted my elbow painfully and then landed on it. Al had somehow managed to levitate himself so he was hovering a few inches over me. "Oh that is SO not fair." I pouted.

He grinned at me. "Son of the world's best levitator. Deal with it." I glared at him. Then, suddenly, I heard, 'She looks really cute when she's mad.'

I smirked and he blushed. "You didn't just-"

"Daughter of the world's best telepath. Deal with it." I repeated with a grin.

"Don't you ever run out of comebacks?"

I paused and pretended I was thinking about that. "Mm, nope." I grinned again. Al frowned, and then the frown was replaced with an almost evil smirk. He bent down and kissed me on the cheek. I blinked rapidly, feeling the blood rush to my face for the thousandth time in the last, oh, half hour almost.

"Finally, no snappy comeback." He laughed and floated onto his feet, offering me his hand. I took it gratefully and he pulled me up.

"So, before I oh-so-gracefully took a nosedive, what were you going to ask me?" I asked.

Al gave me the grin that I had thought was so cute back in my dad's mind. It was still adorable. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go up to the Main Lodge and get a hamburger."

My smile grew wider. "Sure. I'd lo-" An explosion came from the direction of the forest. "What was that?!" Al didn't answer; he was staring at something below us. I looked down to see smoke billowing out of the tree stump below us. My eyes widened. "Ford!"

I scrambled off the stairs, my bleeding elbow forgotten, and dropped down into the Transit System.

--

SC: Dundundun! What have I done? I know you're all just dying to know, don't deny it. But, you shan't find out until the next chapter. Ha ha! And the next chapter won't come without reviews! (hint, hint)

Ja ne

SC


	14. Chapter 14

SC: Eh… too tired to write anything… just read…

--

Chapter 14

Close Down Whispering Rock?!

Kisa choked on the smoke that was pouring through the tunnels making up the transit system. Dropping to her hands and knees, she coughed violently, her eyes watering. 'Damn… what happened down here?!'

"Kisa?" She heard Alphonse call from outside the stump.

"I'm fine." Kisa replied, her voice hoarse from her coughing fit. She started to shove herself up, but let out a shriek as her hand set down on something hot. Pulling it back, she saw that her skin had been burnt, not badly, on the metal rails of the tracks that ran through the tunnels. Careful to avoid the rails, Kisa crawled along the tracks heading to where she hoped would be Ford's sanctuary.

After crawling for a few minutes, she noticed the smoke getting thicker, and blacker, and the smell of burning plastic flooded her nostrils. Sliding her goggles on, she stood up and covered her mouth and nose with her shirt collar and broke into a run. Faintly, she could feel the familiar pulse of Psitanium growing stronger in the back of her mind. 'At least I'm going the right way.' She thought, still going.

Kisa stopped as she heard voices over her head. Looking up, she could faintly see a light through the smoke. Light meant tree stump, which meant she could get out of all this smoke. Summoning up her levitation ball, she bounced up and grabbed the edge of the tree stump. She prepared to haul herself up, but stopped as she heard Ford's telepathic voice ring through her head. _"Kisa, stay out of sight until I say so."_

She felt her grip on the wood tighten. _"Ford, what's happening?"_

_"Just stay put."_ Raz's telepathic voice ordered. 'Dad's there too?' Kisa thought.

"Please, Agent Aquato, let your daughter join us." A garbled voice laughed.

Kisa could feel the frustration radiating off of her father. "Kisa, come here." He ordered softly. Kisa pulled herself up out of the tree stump and saw that not only was her father there, but so was Sasha. 'Duh, there's a stump in his lab.' She thought, walking over. She walked over to her father's side, and stood there, her eyes fixed on the many floating screens around the group. Instead of picturing the world events, as per usual, the screens appeared as if they were showing the aftereffects of a blizzard, and displayed nothing but a glowing white.

"Now, since I assume that we have no more unexpected visitors arriving, I shall continue with what I was saying earlier." The disembodied voice continued. It was garbled past the point of even psychic deciphering. "Oh, and Agent Nein? You might as well cease your efforts of trying to contact either your wife or Agent Aquato's. I have easily blocked this conversation, and all attempts to contact someone outside of this room, from any prying ears or minds." Sasha scowled.

"Let's see, where was I?" The voice questioned itself. "Ah yes. My demands. You see, I have something you want. Well, two somethings actually."

Ford glared at the screens. "Morry and Ember."

"Exactly, Mr. Cruller." The voice laughed, obviously pleased. "In exchange for their return, though I cannot promise a 'safe' return on Ms. McClain's part, she is _quite_ the stubborn one, I want only a few small… favors."

"And that would be?" Raz asked.

If the voice had a face, it was smirking contentedly to itself. "Oh, that's easy; the closure of Whispering Rock and Truman Zanatto's head on a platter, of course!" It cackled madly. "The destruction of the Psychonauts and any budding psychics that might become an agent of those deceitful liars!"

"Never!" Sasha growled.

"I thought your reaction might be as much." The voice sighed. "Ah well. Say bye-bye to your precious pupil, Agent Nein." There was a feminine scream from inside the whiteness, pure and undistorted.

"Ember!"

There was a moment's pause, and then. "Don't do it, Sasha! He won't kill us, he's just a-" Silence fell.

"I must reiterate; she is quite stubborn. Agent Oleander gave in much more quickly. Though, I suppose, Agent McClain has buried her's a bit deeper. I'll give you as much time as you need to decide on a course of action, Agents Aquato, Nein. You may even tell as many people as you want. I don't even care if you come after me. I will achieve my goal."

Kisa felt her father's grip on her hand tighten. "And what, may I ask, is that?"

"You may ask, Razputin Aquato, and my goals are merely two in number. Revenge and regaining what should be mine. Until that time, beware the music of the night." The screens vanished in a bright flash, and when it cleared, the room looked no different than normal.

Raz groaned. "Great. Another psychic terrorist. This is so not what I need right now."

Ford nodded his agreement. "And it couldn't have happened at a worse time; no one can leave without-" The deceased agent glanced down at Kisa. "Kisa?"

Raz and Sasha looked down at her. The girl's face was pale, drained of nearly all its color, and she was trembling. Raz knelt down next to his daughter. "Kisa? What's wrong?" He didn't receive an answer; Kisa just continued to stare at the screens. Then, without warning, she passed out. A telekinetic blue hand grabbed the small figure before she hit the floor.

Sasha raised Kisa into her father's arms. "Perhaps we should discuss this at a later time. With Lili and Milla." The German added emphasis onto the 'with'. Raz nodded.

"We'll be back soon, Ford." Raz looked around. "Ford?"

_"Don't worry, I'm still here." _Ford's telepathic voice resonated through both Agent's skulls. _"Just tired from holding my astral projection for so long. Get Lili and Milla and we'll meet back up down here after all the kiddies have gone to sleep."_

--

Lili sighed as she ran a brush through Kisa's coppery hair. "You sure you're okay sweetheart?" Kisa, under strict orders from Milla and Lili herself, was staying in the sick bay tonight. "You've had fits like this before, and they don't come just one at a time."

"I told you mom; I'm fine." Kisa sighed. "I just freaked out a little back there. And really, I could've brushed my hair by myself."

Lili smiled and kissed the top of her daughter's head. "I know. But I like to baby you."

"Is that why I can't go through Agent Sander's training tomorrow?"

The brush stopped. "No, that's because you're overworking yourself. I know you want to earn your badges as fast as your father, but the courses will be taking place almost every day for the rest of the time you're here." Lili assured her as she resumed pulling the brush through the reddish locks.

Lili's hand paused once again as the door cracked open and Sarah, Emily, and Misha poked their heads in. She laughed a little. "You can come in girls." All three ran over.

"Where have you been?"

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

Lili held up a hand and the flood of questions stopped. "Down girls. Kisa's fine, and she just passed out."

Sarah and Misha gasped. "How come?" Emily asked curiously.

Kisa shrugged. "It's happened before. I just strain my mind too hard and my body shuts down for a little bit. I still can't feel my legs very well." She wiggled them a little under the sheets.

Lili stood up, smiling down at the girls. "Hey, curfew's still in order and you three are about a half hour over it. I'll take you back to your cabin." Misha's mouth opened. "Don't worry; Kisa will be good as new after getting some rest. Now come on." Lili escorted the three out of the room. "Get some sleep Kisa." She ordered before shutting the door. Kisa sighed and turned out the light before lying down and shutting her eyes.

--

Lili walked levitated out of the tree stump and into Ford's Sanctuary. Sasha, Milla, Raz, Hazel, Nala, and Ford were already there. "Okay, the kids are all in their cabins, save Kisa who is sound asleep in the nurse's office, and we shouldn't have any outside interference." Lili sighed, sitting down between Raz and Milla. "Hi dad." Lili sighed. A 3D hologram of Truman Zanotto nodded at her.

Nala leaned forward a bit in her chair. "So, are we going to hear this terrorist or what?"

Ford nodded and Raz hit a button on the side of his chair's armrest. The audio from earlier that afternoon played again, the garbled voice still the same. Sasha winced as Ember's scream was played once again in full surround sound. Milla squeezed his hand reassuringly as her voice came through, obviously in pain. _"Don't do it, Sasha! He won't kill us, he's just a-"_

Truman grimaced as Ember's voice was cut off. "Is that all of it?" Raz shook his head.

"There's a little more."

_"I must reiterate; she is quite stubborn. Agent Oleander gave in much more quickly. Though, I suppose, Agent McClain has buried her's a bit deeper. I'll give you as much time as you need to decide on a course of action, Agents Aquato, Nein. You may even tell as many people as you want. I don't even care if you come after me. I will achieve my goal."_

_"And what, may I ask, is that?"_ Raz asked.

_"You may ask, Razputin Aquato, and my goals are merely two in number. Revenge and regaining what should be mine. Until that time, beware the music of the night."_

Truman frowned. "What did he mean, buried hers deeper?"

Ford shook his head. "Me, Sasha, and Raz have been trying to figure that out all day."

Sasha shook his head. "We could not think of anything."

"Wait, what was that last part?" Hazel asked.

"Beware the music of the night." Nala told her.

Lili nodded. "Yeah, that was it. Why?"

"I don't know why, but the first thing I thought of when I heard that was Phantom of the Opera. The Music of the Night is a song from the Phantom of the Opera." Raz and Lili glanced at each other.

Truman sighed. "It looks like we've got a new terrorist on our hands." He looked around the room. "Now we have to make a decision: close Whispering Rock or try and find this guy and put up a fight? Lili?"

Lili grinned at her father. "Fight."

"Raz?"

"Like I'd really vote to shut down Whispering Rock?" Raz asked. Truman nodded.

"Hazel?"

"Fight."

"Nala?"

"Fight."

Ford smirked. "Truman, if you even ask me, I'll have Raz bring my brain down there to telekinetically whoop your butt."

Truman chuckled and turned to Milla. "Milla?"

Milla smiled. "Darling, normally I'm a pacifist, but this time I have to say fight!"

Truman turned to Sasha, the smile fading off of his face. "Sasha?"

The German's sunglasses had fallen down the bridge of his nose, so the rest of the room could see the ice in his navy blue eyes. "Fight."

Truman nodded. "It's unanimous then. Sasha, Milla, Lili, and Raz; as soon as camp is over I want you four to get on this case. Nala and Hazel, you'll be back at the Agency. We'll need all the help we can get trying to find this guy." Both of them nodded. All of them stood. "Agents, that is all." The seven of them, Ford included, saluted him and the hologram disappeared.

Raz sighed. "Let's all get to bed; we're all going to need as much rest as we can get."

--

SC: Woot! Okay, the villain has been introduced… sort of… well, a giant white screen has been introduced! Shut up! (hides in corner)

Puck: You'll have to forgive her, she's a bit distracted. The Grinch (the one with Jim Carey) is on and she LOVES 'You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch'.

SC: (watching mini-TV) Heehee… Jim Carey is awesome!

Puck: Anyway, review please!

Ja ne  
SC


	15. Chapter 15

SC: You know what I find really sad? I'm getting more reviews for my Nightmare Before Christmas fic, which gets like NO reviews, than I am for this. That makes me sad… yet happy, because more people are reading Like Father, Like Daughter. Yea!

Disclaimer: Do you really think I own Psychonauts? C'mon, think about it! Wait… no… never mind, don't.

--

Chapter 15

It was three in the morning when Whispering Rock received a very rude awakening. Lili and Raz ran out of their room in the counselor's lodge, covering their ears. _"What is that?!"_ Akiko asked telepathically.

Lili groaned. _"I don't know, but its really giving me a headache!" _The noise suddenly stopped. All of the Psychonauts pulled their hands off their ears slowly, looking around. "What the hell was that?"

Milla shook her head. "I'm not sure, darling, but I'm going to go check on the children. They're all awake now." She walked out of the room. A door creaked open, then slammed shut, and Milla let out a scream.

"Milla!" Sasha ran outside after her, the rest of the counselors following, Nala at the rear.

"Holy…" Raz whispered. In flaming letters on the side of the lodge were the words: _IT'S JUST BEGUN!_

As the agents stared at the flaming words, Alphonse and Sarah ran up. "Mom! Dad!"

Sasha and Milla turned around. "Sarah, Alphonse, what's wrong?" Milla knelt down next to her children.

"It… it's the animals… they…" Alphonse panted.

"They're attacking the cabins!" Sarah finished. Milla's eyes widened and she looked at the men and women behind her. Sasha nodded and turned back toward everyone.

"Raz, Lili, Nala, and Akiko; get down to the cabins and stop those animals. The rest of us will join you as soon as Hazel, Milla, and I put this out." The four nodded and ran off. "You two," Sasha turned to his children, "Go stay in the sick bay with Kisa. Now." He ordered. Both of them ran inside.

Kisa was sitting up in her bed, staring at the wall in front of her. Her attention turned to the door when it burst open and Sarah, quite literally, bounced over and hugged her. "God I miss you! The cabin is SO boring."

"Hi Sarah. You're crushing my ribs again." Sarah giggled and let go. Alphonse shook his head and shut the door.

Kisa looked over at him. "What's going on out there?"

He grimaced. "Well, someone's written 'it's just begun' with a torch on the side of the counselor's cabin, and the animals are all going nuts and attacking the kid's cabins."

"Great. Now we have squirrels attacking us."

"Actually, it's just the cougars and bears. The squirrels are actually helping." Sarah corrected.

"Ooookay… this camp just gets better and better." Kisa muttered. She glanced over at Alphonse, who was still standing by the door. "You can come over here, you know. I'm not contagious."

Sarah laughed. "He's too embarrassed." Her brother glared at her, turning a bright shade of pink.

"I am not!" He walked over stiffly and sat down on Kisa's other side. Kisa smiled and swung her legs over the side of the bed to make more room.

"Think we should go check it out?" She asked with a grin. Both Nein twins looked at her like she was insane.

"You're joking. Please tell me you're joking." Al begged.

"Uh, no." Kisa gave him an odd look. "Don't tell me you've never disobeyed your parents before."

Sarah giggled. "Nope. He has never done anything to go against what daddy says."

Alphonse glared at her. "Sarah… shut up!" He hissed.

Kisa giggled and stood up. "Well, what are we waiting for?" **(a/n: wow, there's a lot of 'w's in that.)** She ran over to the door.

Sarah and Alphonse glanced at each other before running out after her. "Kisa, wait up!" Al called. "My mom and dad might still be outside with Hazel!"

"Nah, they left already." Kisa called over her shoulder.

Sarah glanced at her neck to see her goggles banging against her chest as she ran. "Don't you ever take those off?"

"Nope. They were my dad's!" She panted breathlessly, running out of the lodge. "He told me these saved his life a few times, so I keep 'em near me all the time!" Kisa stopped as she turned toward the area of the Kid's Cabins. "Oh no…" There were screams coming from everywhere, out loud and mental, and the sound of PSI Blasts were only matched by the sound of the roaring fire.

_"Kisa, get back inside that lodge!"_ Raz's voice rang out through the three children's minds.

She snapped out of her trance. "No way dad!" She ran down the hill, Al and Sarah following her.

_"Listen to your father, Kisa!"_ Lili ordered. _"All three of you need to get back inside!"_

Al PSI Blasted a cougar that had noticed them. "What do you think we've been trying to get her to do?" He muttered, watching as the cougar fell over, dead.

Sarah let out a shriek. "Bear!" Kisa and Alphonse jumped around to see a very big, very angry, Psitanium enhanced bear floating behind them.

"Duck!" Three bright PSI Bullets flew over their heads, and the bear fell to the ground like the cougar.

"Akiko, get them out of here!" Hazel ordered. Akiko nodded and a telekinetic, bubblegum pink hand wrapped around them.

"C'mon you three, let's get you to the rest of the kids." Akiko floated over to the Main Lodge, the kids in tow. "Milla, we've got three more." She called, setting them down inside.

Milla rushed over and hugged both her children. "I'm glad you two are alright. No more disappearing acts, got it?" Both nodded and Milla turned to Kisa. "Are you feeling alright darling?" Kisa nodded.

Emily and Misha ran up, along with Eli and Tony. "Thank god you guys are okay!" Misha hugged all three, not very well, but she managed.

Emily rolled her eyes and proceeded to explain what was happening. "No one's too badly hurt, well, except for…"

"Except for who?" Kisa asked.

Emily bit her lip. Eli took over. "Becky didn't get out of her cabin fast enough. She was trying to help one of the other girls and one of the beds toppled over and busted her leg. It's broken in two places and she got burned pretty bad."

"You're mom's really good with a med kit." Tony commented. "She snapped the bones back into place and splinted faster than Becky could even realize it."

"About time you losers got here." Kisa looked up as Becky limped over. "And before you say anything, Aquato, I'm fine. God, you're such a goody-two-shoes."

"They already told us Becky." Sarah laughed.

She blushed. "Oh. Thanks a lot." She growled. The four of them grinned at her. An explosion came from outside, and then everything was silent.

The main doors slammed opening, causing quite a few screams, before the lights were flicked on to reveal the rest of the counselors, tired and dirty. Raz ran a hand through his hair, leaving a trail of black through the reddish strands. "Well, until we can manage to fix up the cabins that were burned, everyone's going to have to stay in here."

It took a little while to get all the kids settled in the extra sleeping bags (hey, it IS a camp for psychic kids. There are going to be accidents), but eventually everyone was settled and asleep.

Sasha sighed as he dabbed a cotton ball soaked in alcohol on Razputin's arm. "Ow!"

Lili glared at him. "Raz, be quiet." She winced as Milla did the same to her, but for a gash on her forehead. "This is one of the reasons I hated coming to camp as a kid."

Hazel looked up from bandaging Akiko's hand. "What, the animals?"

"No, the antiseptic."

Raz chuckled. "You did used to get in a lot of fights. Especially with Bobby."

"Hey, if he can't think up a nickname for you other than 'gogglicious', I'm going to assume that he's about as straight as his teeth."

Akiko, Nala, and Hazel began to laugh. Milla giggled. "Yes, and it certainly didn't get any better when Benny would try to help."

"I believe he stopped trying after Razputin would jump in to help as well."

"Hey, two on one wasn't fair!" Raz protested, nearly knocking over the bottle full of antiseptic. "Whoops, sorry Sasha." Sasha shook his head.

"It's alright." Sasha capped the bottle and threw away the swab in his hand. "Perhaps we should cancel classes for tomorrow. None of us are in any shape to be teaching."

Hazel nodded in agreement. "I don't know about you guys, but my mind's a mess right now."

Raz sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It's agreed then; classes are cancelled until the day after tomorrow."

--

SC: Okay, bad place to end, I know. But I've been having the worst writer's block lately, and I think it'd be best for me to post it now. Reviews will make me feel better!

Ja ne

SC


	16. Chapter 16

SC: Okay, enough of me bitching about reviews in these things. Now, I'm about to give you fair warning: this chapter is going to be complete and utter shit. There will be some pointless fluff, some complete shit, and some more complete shit. For some reason, pointless fluff seems to help me write better. Usually.

Disclaimer: Trust me, I don't own Psychonauts. I wouldn't be writing this crap if I did. It would be pure and utter wonderful stuff, because Tim Schafer is amazing.

--

Chapter 16

Aw, young love… how distracting…

"This camp just gets more and more… what's the word I'm looking for?" Eli asked, looking over at Sarah.

"Exciting? Creepy? Weird?" She drawled off. "I don't know. Just because I'm psychic doesn't mean I go prying into everyone's head all the time." Eli smiled at her and kissed her cheek.

"Actually, I was going to say interesting." He laughed.

"Well then why'd you ask me?"

Eli paused to think about this question. "'Cause you're cute when you're flustered." Sarah blushed.

"I hate you sometimes."

Another grin. "Well, that's a good thing. If you didn't, this wouldn't be a relationship. It'd be worship." He paused. "Not that that's necessarily a bad thing…"

"Eli." Sarah groaned.

"I was kidding, Sarah. Just kidding." He stood up, wiping the sand off his jeans. "You wanna go get a hamburger?"

"Do I ever _not_ want to go get a hamburger?" She retorted with a grin.

He helped her up. "Not in the last eighty seven times I've ever asked you." He linked his elbow with hers and they walked up the stairs.

"Hi Misha!" Sarah waved as she spotted the girl sitting at one of the picnic tables outside the Main Lodge.

Misha waved back. "Hi Sarah. Have you seen Tony anywhere?"

Sarah paused. "Mm, no, sorry. I haven't seen him all day." She paused again, tilting her head to the side. "I think he's hiding behind one of the cabins though." She frowned. "And… Emily's with him?"

Misha sighed. "I'd better stop her from beating the shit out of him. Bye!" She ran off.

Eli looked down at Sarah. "Emily's with him?"

Sarah giggled. "I think I should've warned Misha that she's not beating him up." It took Eli a moment to process this, but then he laughed.

"Nice."

--

Misha walked up to see her brother whispering to the air. "Tony, who are you talking too?"

Tony stumbled. "Uh, no one. What do you want?" He asked, regaining his composure quickly.

Misha looked around suspiciously. "Sarah said you were here and that Emily was with you."

"Emily, Emily…" He tapped his forehead thoughtfully. "Oh, you mean the girl with the blue hair. Yeah, she was here a second ago."

"Wow, she was here and she didn't beat you up. I'm surprised." Misha commented.

"Yeah. Big surprise."

"Well, if you see her, tell her that I'm down at the Campfire Area." She ran off.

Tony sighed. "That was close."

Emily appeared next to him. "You're telling me. Good thing you sensed her coming."

He nodded. "Sometimes the freaky twin things come in handy." He looked over at her. "So…"

"So…" Emily repeated.

"We go back to making out?" She shrugged and kissed him.

--

Misha walked into the campfire circle and sat down, pulling a bag of different colored beads from her pocket along with a half finished keychain. She wasn't stupid; she could feel Emily's aura standing next to her brother. She opened the bag and pulled out a handful of beads, setting them in her lap.

"Hi." She looked up from her work to see Becky Thorn standing there.

"Don't you have innocent animals to be torturing or something?" Misha asked dryly, sliding a pink bead onto on of the strings hanging off of side of her keychain.

"What is that?"

"It's going to be a heart if I ever actually get it finished." She slid the other string through the bead as well and pulled, setting it into place.

Becky hobbled over and sat down on the log next to the one Misha was on. "Oh yeah, my brother used to make those. He made me a cobra, I think."

Misha stopped and looked up again. "You have a brother?"

"Had a brother, you mean." She said sadly. "He… got in a car wreck when I was seven. We kept him on life support for a couple of years but… it just got too expensive. We took him off right before my eleventh birthday."

Misha put a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, wow. Becky, I'm so sorry."

"Nothing you can do about it." She smiled. "He was psychic too. He came here one summer, said it was the best summer of his life." Both girls fell silent.

Becky looked over at Misha as the smaller girl handed her a thin booklet and a piece of string. "The cobra's on page two."

After a moment, she took them, smiling. "Thanks."

--

"Okay, so you can't swim, absolutely hate the water, but you can get a rock to skip out to the middle of the lake?"

"Hey, it's a gift. Got a problem with it, Nein?" Kisa asked. "Just because you can't get it three feet from the dock…"

A bright blue telekinetic hand grabbed a pebble and tossed it far across the lake. "Better?" Alphonse grinned at her.

"Cheater." She teased, tossing another rock across the water. It skipped six times before falling below the surface. "Yes! Farthest one yet."

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "You know, someone could start to think that you've got ego issues, Kisa."

"Someone? Like you, you mean?" She teased.

He grinned at her. "Perhaps." He looked at the diving helmet/ submersible. "You know, I caught Eli and Sarah making out back here last year."

"You're joking."

"Ask them. I tossed Eli to the center of the lake."

Kisa laughed. "You're so mean!"

He blushed. "Hey, he was kissing my sister. I kinda freaked out."

"You tossed him in the lake." She reminded him.

"Okay, I really freaked out."

"There we go."

Al leaned up against the wooden rail that Kisa was tossing rocks over. "Well, what would you have done?"

"Probably PSI Blasted him into oblivion or set him aflame." She confessed.

"Aflame… how do you somehow manage to make torturing someone sound pretty?"

Kisa giggled. "I dunno. Because you like me?" Alphonse turned dark red. Kisa turned slightly pink. "Sorry. I was just kidding."

"Well… it isn't exactly untrue…" He muttered. Kisa blushed darker.

She buried her face in her hands, laughing. "Wow, could I have made this any more awkward?"

"Yeah."

She looked up at him. "How?"

"You could've done this." He leant down and kissed her quickly on the lips. When he pulled back, Kisa was bright red.

"Y-yeah. I could've done that." She stuttered out.

Alphonse covered his eyes. "Crap, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry." He jumped, startled, as Kisa stood up straight and kissed him.

"There, now we're even." She smiled at him. He glared at her, obviously faking it.

"Even, huh?" He growled.

Kisa took a step back. "Oh no. Don't you dare." She shrieked with laughter as he tickled her. "N-no! Sto-stop it! Al, quit it, I'm ticklish!"

"So I've noticed." He stopped though.

Kisa gasped for air. "You are evil. Evil with a capital 'e'."

He smiled at her and kissed her again, lingering a little longer this time. She blushed. "Okay. Evil, but a really good kisser."

"I can live with that."

xXx

"Hey." Milla called, floating down the stained glass stairs in Sasha's lab. He looked up at her, not even managing a weak smile. He was sitting in his chair, hunched over, previously holding his head in his hands. She floated next to him and rubbed his back. "Are you all right?"

Sasha shook his head. "My mind's a mess."

Milla started playing with his hair. "Tell me about it. I'm not in the best shape either. My nightmares almost escaped."

Suddenly, Sasha was a lot more attentive. "What?"

"Don't worry, Sasha. I've got them under control." She tapped her temple with a gloved finger. "They're back where they belong."

Sasha leant his head against her shoulder. "This is insane. We should be out there trying to find this guy."

"I know. I know, darling." Milla soothed. "But these kids need us. And ending camp now would be giving in to his demands. We said that we were going to fight, so we're going to fight."

Sasha smiled up at her, his sunglasses slipping down a little so Milla could see his eyes. "Right."

xXx

"Raz, this isn't a very therapeutic way to release your anger." Lili called from a trapeze in her husband's mind as he stood below her and PSI Blasted away at the knife throwers and other occupants of his mind. It didn't hurt them of course, they just took it and continued with whatever it was that they were doing.

"Lili, I don't need therapy. Psychonauts don't need therapy."

"That isn't true. We've had to institutionalize more than one agent because they've gone insane."

Raz sighed and looked up at her. "I'm not going insane. I'm just really pissed off."

"Aren't we all?" Lili asked rhetorically, floating down. "Come on, let's get out of here."

A second later, two pairs of eyes, one green, the other hazel, snapped open. Lili sat up, shoving Raz's arms off of her waist. "Shit, what time is it?" She muttered, running a hand through her hair.

Raz looked over at the digital clock sitting on the table next to the bed. "Almost one." He looked up at her. "Care to get some lunch?"

Lili glanced at the clock. "Sure. Hamburgers sound good."

Raz smiled. "You know, I don't think I ever got to eat one of those while we were going to camp here."

"I don't think I did either. Every time Ford went into cook mode, he never got any made."

"Yet he said that they were backordered for weeks." Lili laughed. "It was so much easier when we were kids."

"Right. Because you going to a fancy private school and me traveling with a circus until I was seventeen was SO wonderful for our relationship."

"I married you didn't I?" Lili asked, laying back down next to him.

Raz smirked at her. "Only because no one else was stupid enough to ask you."

"You realize that you just insulted yourself?"

He paused. "Crap, I can't even insult you! I suck."

Lili nodded. "Yes. Yes you do. But I love you anyway. Now, let's go get those hamburgers."

--

SC: Okay, there's my fluff release. I think it's cute, actually. And madz, I had to do it. I'm sorry. BTW, is anyone else having e-mail problems with story alerts and such?

Ja ne  
SC


	17. Chapter 17

SC: Eee! I've got reviewses again! And my alerts are starting to come back in… sort of… it's REALLY slow, but I'm starting to get them again at least.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts, Tim Schafer does. I don't own Nala either, Madz owns her.

--

Chapter 17

PSYCHO-BILLY FREAKOUT

"You know, I'm kinda glad that all the counselors took a day off. Now I can go to Confusion with you guys." Kisa said cheerfully as she walked ahead of Alphonse and Sarah, both of whom were giving her very strange looks.

"Do you really have to walk like that?" Sarah asked. Kisa was walking, true, but on her hands.

"Hey, I haven't practiced in a while." She vaulted off the ground and, after doing two mid-air somersaults, landed gracefully on her feet. She grinned over her shoulder at the Nein twins.

Sarah grinned back at her. "You have GOT to teach me how to that."

Kisa rolled her eyes. "It took me a very, very, VERY long year just to learn to walk on my hands. It took another two to learn how to do the flippy thingy at the end."

"Jeez, when did you learn it?"

Kisa looked away nervously. "Um… I, ah, started learning how to do it when I was about… three." She ended in a small voice. Sarah stared at her until Kisa moved to Alphonse's other side. He smiled and sneakily, but not that sneakily, slipped his hand into her's. Kisa smiled at him and wove her fingers between his. Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Look, there's Nala." She walked over to their counselor, who was sitting in front of the giant, upturned tree stump in the parking lot.

Nala looked up as they walked up. "Everyone here? Good. Let's go." She placed the Psycho Portal on her forehead and flicked it open, pulling the astral forms of twenty campers as she did.

.o0o.

"Did we just step into a Disney movie?" Becky muttered, looking at their surroundings. Nala's mind seemed to consist of your run-of-the-mill happy, Disney-esque forest, which looked suspiciously like the Wilderness at camp. Varieties of cute, fuzzy animals ran across the paths and in the forests, making those odd little chittery noises that small, fuzzy animals seem to make. "Hey, my leg's all right!"

"Duh, it's the astral plane." Misha told her. "You have a broken leg. Your mind doesn't have a broken leg."

Tony looked over at her. "Your mind doesn't have legs."

She rolled her eyes exasperatedly at her twin. "Do you guys see what I have to put up with?"

Sarah crossed her arms. "Yeah? Well at least your brother isn't a super genius, super gifted psychic who can show you up in just about everything."

Alphonse blushed as everyone laughed. "Ah-hem." Nala coughed, appearing behind them. They all turned around. "If I'm not mistaken, you all have a course to run." They all laughed nervously and ran off.

"Well, this place doesn't seem too bad." Sarah commented.

Kisa nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty nice actually, but how are we supposed to earn our- oof!" She grunted as something big ran into her. There was a slight tug on her neck as she fell to the ground. "Sheez, what hit me?"

Alphonse helped her to her feet. "That thing." He pointed. Standing in front of them was a small, turbaned figure in a violet robe lined with gold down the front. He didn't appear to have any face to speak of, just a pair of purple eyes peering out from under the turban. The sleeves of the robe covered his hands, in which he held…

"My goggles!" Kisa yelped. "Why you little-!" She started after the thief, who had begun running very quickly at her first step toward him.

"Kisa!" Sarah yelled, running after her, until… "OW! Hey, that little jerk took my PSI Energy Colorizer!" She ran after it.

"Sarah, wait- too late, she's gone." Al muttered. He sighed and closed his fist, opening it to reveal a small green grenade sitting there, a question mark shaped pull pin hovering over it. Al turned to see a thief almost identical to the one who attacked Kisa running toward him, save that he seemed to be green-themed instead of violet, and pulled the question mark. He tossed the grenade, smacking the thief in the face with it seconds before it exploded into a lot of sparkling green confusion dust. Not wanting to risk walking into the cloud, he PSI Blasted it and tossed it into the bushes with Telekinesis.

A green badge floated down in front of his face and he grabbed it with a pleased smile. That is, until his thief jumped out of the bushes and snatched it from him.

xXx

Kisa let out a growl as the thief with her goggles leapt over her head. Nothing could stop these things! She'd tried PSI Blasting them, but she couldn't lock on to them; she'd tried grabbing them with TK, but they were too fast; she'd even tried setting them on fire, but ended up hitting a squirrel instead. 'I'm getting too tired to keep this up for much longer…' She groaned to herself. 'How am I supposed to earn my badge if I can't concentrate long enough to use my… Confusion…' Kisa stopped, smacking her forehead. "Duh, Kisa. Confusion class." Kisa concentrated and felt a Confusion Grenade appear in her hand. She grinned and tossed it.

The thief stopped and turned, stupidly watching the Grenade arch through the air, exploding as it hit the ground at his feet. Kisa grinned as he twirled dizzily, running up and snatching her goggles from his hands. "Ha!" She laughed triumphantly, slipping them over her head. 'I'm surprised they aren't broken.' She thought to herself. 'Ah well.' She stopped as something big walked out into her path.

"Holy shit… a lion…" Kisa squeaked. The lion tilted its head and looked at her curiously before walking over and rubbing its head against her hand. Tentatively, she scratched its ears, making it let out a low rumble which she interpreted as a purr. "Good kitty…" She murmured, continuing to pet it. It licked her hand happily before running off into the trees.

Kisa followed after it, surprised to see a path cut through the trees. "Oookay… this definitely qualifies for investigation."

o0.0o

Sarah smirked as she sat, yes, SAT, triumphantly on her thief, tucking her PSI colorizer and Confusion badge back into her pocket. "Aren't gonna try that again any time soon, are you?" She muttered as she stood and kicked the KO'ed thief before walking off. It wasn't long before the sound of a vault running around somewhere close reached her ears.

Looking around, she couldn't see anything moving around in the bushes or ahead of her on the path. She turned away, but then a movement in the corner of her eye made her stop. "Ah ha!" She laughed, running after it. She chased it all the way down to a gurgling little creek before managing to blast it and grab the memory reel.

"'Dead weight'?" She murmured, hitting the play button.

--

A younger Nala was sitting in her living room, surrounded by several other girls. A laptop sat in her, well, lap, and a cord ran out the back and into the wall. Sarah floated just over Nala's head, watching her counselor check her e-mail. With a loud 'PING', a new one popped up, its subject reading "**CONFIDENTIAL AND SECRET**".

All the girls, presumably Nala's friends, started to 'ooh' and 'ahh'. "What is it, Nala? From a secret boyfriend or something?" One giggled.

"You guys are horrible." She scolded, opening it. Her friends crowded around, blocking Sarah's view of the screen. After a moment, the computer slides out of her lap, landing on the floor with a 'thunk.' Tears started pouring down Nala's face.

"Nala…" Her friends all tried to hug her, all muttering some kind of comforting words. She pushed them all away, burying her face in her hands.

Sarah floated down to where the computer had fallen, somewhat surprised it hadn't broken. Tilting her head, she read the e-mail, then let out a surprised gasp.

'_Nala,_

_Your father is dead.'_

--

Sarah had to wipe away tears as the memory ended. What a horrible way to find out that your dad had died… she couldn't even imagine what she would do if _her_ dad died and all she got was an e-mail. She placed the reel back in the vault and let it run off.

.o0o.

Kisa winced as another tree branch hit her in the face. If she was just an astral projection, why did it hurt so much when she got smacked?! Finally, she stumbled into an open clearing. "Finally, no more branches." She sighed, looking around happily. Her eyes traveled over a large, gaping hole in the rock wall in front of her; a cave. Kisa raised an eyebrow. 'Any smart Psychonaut would never investigate something suspicious like this without backup.' She grinned at the thought. 'Which makes it a good thing that I'm not a Psychonaut. Wow, never thought I'd say that.' She chuckled and walked into the cave boldly.

Kisa peered through the darkness without any luck. 'And now I can't see. Oh well.' She reached out and felt along the walls, making her way deeper into the cave. Finally, after walking for what seemed like hours (but in reality was only three or four minutes), she saw a light. Letting out a sigh of relief, she headed toward it, only to see…

"Oh. My. God." It was a shrine, dedicated to (the one and only) Sasha Nein. The rocky walls were plastered with pictures, news reports, torn pages from 'True Psychic Tales, anything that had Sasha's picture on it. She also noticed that some were ripped in half, probably where Milla should have been standing. Looking around, Kisa's only thought was, 'She really IS obsessed with him.'

Or, they were until a cold voice from behind her asked, "What are you doing here?"

Kisa whipped around to see a VERY angry Nala Sanders standing behind her. She blanched and quickly tried to explain. "Nala–er, I mean, Agent Sanders- I can explain! I, uh, got lost, and… um…" She cut off as the ground beneath her started shaking. "I'm gonna go now." Kisa ran out quickly, gasping at the sight that lay before her.

The happy forest was gone, and a giant mountain had risen in the center of Nala's mind. Only it was spewing lava from its top. It was a volcano.

Nala had officially freaked out.

--

SC: Oh my god, it has taken me FOREVER to update this thing. Why? Because I've had a cold of the WORST, and I do mean WORST, kind. I have almost literally been choking on my own snot. It was disgusting. So, as not to spread my germs to the rest of the household, I have not been allowed on or near the computer.

Which meant I couldn't update. You see how this poses a problem for me. But, and here's the real kicker, _I still had to go to school._ I was coughing until my throat was raw and hacking up god-only-knows what, and my mom made me go to school. Well, save that one day when I had a 100 degree fever. Then she made me stay home. On the day I actually WANTED to go. Yeah.

Anyway, here's your really late chapter. Please enjoy, and do not throw rotten fruit (or flame) the author. Have a nice life!

Ja ne

SC

PS: Read and review please.

PSS: I'm really sorry if some of this stuff doesn't make sense or just downright sucks. I was on like five different drugs when I typed the last half of this. FORGIVE ME!


	18. Chapter 18

SC: Ehehe… sorry for the long wait guys! I've been having little to no time to write lately, what with school and stuff… FORGIVE ME, OH HIGHER ENTITY OF LITERATURE! (runs off to hide)

Disclaimer: If you go back to last chapter, there's a disclaimer there.

--

Chapter 18

Intervention

The sudden change of scenery had startled many kids, and a few were grateful that their astral forms couldn't wet themselves.

But those most startled were Misha and Tony Caliente, who had been standing on the very spot where the volcano had cracked through the ground.

"Ohmigodohmigodohmigod…" Misha whimpered as she looked at where they were.

"Easy, Mish. We'll get out of here, easy." Tony soothed, not really believing it himself.

For you see, dear readers, Misha and Tony were sitting smack dab in the middle of Nala's volcano.

"Tony! Is that you?" Tony looked up to see a dab of bright green against the crimson sky.

"Eli! Man, I am glad to see you!" He laughed. "Misha's having a fit down here, think you can help?"

"Yeah, hold on." Eli's shocking hair disappeared for a moment, then…

"Eli, I know you want to help, but jumping down here probably isn't going to help." Tony said dryly.

Eli grinned and reached into his pocket. "It will if I have… these!" He produced a small, gold container.

"Um, great. What are those, exactly?"

With another grin, Eli popped the container open, and a horrible stench filled his, Tony's, and Misha's nostrils.

Back in the real world, Tony Caliente shot up, wiping at his watering eyes. "Ugh! That was awful!"

Eli sat up a few feet away, a slightly sick look on his face. "Sorry." He croaked, gagging a little. "Smelling salts. They have that effect most of the time."

"Ewww…" Misha groaned. "Why do you even have those, Eli? I thought they weren't allowed in camp."

Eli grimaced. "It's, uh, personal. Never mind about that. We need to get one of the other counselors, and fast!" All three scrambled up and headed for the Main Lodge.

Back in Nala's mind, the rest of the campers weren't having such luck. Many had still been chasing the thieves, all of whom had stolen something important or special to them, when the change occurred. The thieves were suddenly wielding huge scimitars; masked wrestlers and hunters with guns that were blown far out of proportion were randomly leaping out of the forestry; and to top it all off, there was a volcano spewing smoke and ash into the air.

"I think I liked it better when it was a happy, Disney forest!" Becky yelled, PSI Blasting a wrestler who had attempted to climb the tree she and Emily had climbed into.

"Emily! Becky! Over here!" Both girls looked to their left to see Sarah standing on the oddly flat top of a nearby tree.

"How'd you get up there?" Emily asked. Sarah pointed to the vine-ladder twisted around the tree.

Becky looked at Emily. "I'm not going down there."

"You don't have to." Emily told her, standing slowly. The blue haired girl edged onto one of the branches and, after seeing that it would indeed support her, started out on it cautiously. "Follow me." Becky did, after a moment, muttering something along the lines of 'where's Aquato when you need her?'

Kisa, however, wasn't faring much better than her friends. She too had been cornered but, thanks to all those years of acrobatic training, she was progressing away from her unwanted shadows much faster. Kisa yelped as one of the hunters shot at her through the thick foliage, nearly hitting her arm. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, I really need some help!"

"You rang?" A familiar figure asked, levitating next to her.

"Al!" Kisa sighed happily, hugging his waist. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you… or anybody, really. Where is everyone?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen anyone from our little pack."

"What about the rest of them?"

"Running from insane hunters and pro wrestlers, as far as I can see anyway."

"Al!" Kisa shrieked, pointing behind him. He whipped around to see a pair of wrestlers climbing the tree behind them. A navy blue telekinetic hand plucked one of them off of the tree, and then tossed him at the other one. Both fell to the ground with a scream. "Thanks." Kisa breathed.

"No problem. Come on, we need to get out of here." He wrapped his arms around her and levitated them both up just as a low rumble shook the forest.

"What was that?" Kisa whispered, looking at the ground.

Al looked over at the volcano, his eyes widening. "Kisa… hold on tight." She followed his gaze and gasped.

The volcano was the source of the rumble, and sparks were now flying into the air with the smoke and ash. Mount Nala was about to erupt.

--

"Agent Aquato!" The Main Lodge doors burst open, and the four agents who occupied it looked up.

Raz stood. "What are you three doing here? Don't you have class with Agent Sanders?"

"That's the problem." Eli gasped.

"We were in Nala's mind, and everything was going all right, and then she just snapped or something, cause there was this volcano and-"

Sasha shoved his chair back. "You three stay here. We'll handle this. Akiko, Lili." The two women stood and followed Raz and Sasha out of the Lodge.

"Of all the times for her to go nuts…" Raz groaned, running toward the parking lot.

"If the volcano's there, someone must have found the cave." Lili sighed.

Raz smiled with a staged cheeriness. "Oh, well goody! That means we're screwed!"

"So glad you can be optimistic AND sarcastic at the same time, Raz." Akiko chirped, sarcasm also lacing her tone.

"That's enough!" Sasha ordered. "We do not have the time to argue about this, and your sarcasm is not appreciated, Razputin."

"Sorry Sasha." Both murmured as they neared the area Nala's body, as well as twenty or so campers', sat in. Said Psychonaut was convulsing on the ground uncontrollably, psychic energy flowing off of her body in waves.

"If we don't stop her, she's going to K.O. herself and all the kids are going to be stuck in there." Lili gasped.

"Let's go." Sasha said, reaching for the Psycho Portal on Nala's forehead. It didn't budge. "It's jammed. Either that, or locked."

Raz sighed. "We're gonna have to force our way in again, aren't we?" Sasha nodded grimly, holding a hand at the door. A moment passed, and then the door shot open, pulling the four Psychonauts in. As the last of their astral forms passed through the door, it snapped shut, almost angrily.

--

"Holy shit." Raz whispered, looking around Nala's mind from his perch atop a high tree. "Was it this bad last time, Lili?"

_"No, not really. No one found the shrine last time, though."_ His wife responded from halfway across the jungle. _"Gotta go, some kids are getting chased down by… wrestlers?"_

Raz shook his head and turned to Sasha, who was standing next to him. "So, what do we do now?"

"'We' do not do anything." Sasha replied. "You are going to go help Lili and Akiko while I go and try to find Nala."

"But, Sasha-"

"Now is NOT the time, Razputin." Agent Nein snapped, levitating off toward the volcano. Raz sighed and jumped down, nearly landing on a startled Sarah, Becky, and Misha.

"Agent Aquato! Oh thank god…" Becky breathed.

Raz PSI Blasted the hunter that had rounded the corner. "Are you three alright?" They all nodded. "Good." He tapped into Lili's mind. _"Lili, I have Sarah, Misha, and Becky."_

_"Akiko's taking care of getting all the kids together. Bring 'em to her and try to find the others."_

_"Got it."_ Raz paused. _"Lili… any sign of Kisa?"_

It took a moment for his wife to respond. _"I haven't seen her yet."_

_"Just checking."_ He cut off the link. "Sarah, you know how to track auras, right?" She nodded. "Find Agent Yukari and go to her. Go through the trees, you'll all be safer that way." Concentrating, Raz levitated them back into the mess of branches and watched them run through the twisting paths above him until they were gone. Then, Raz closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. _"Kisa?"_ He called, touching the dark violet aura that he recognized to be his daughter's.

--

Kisa jumped a little in Al's grasp, nearly making him lose his concentration. "Kisa, what is it?" He asked, steadying his path, still heading toward the volcano.

"My dad's here." She sighed, relieved. "So are my mom, Agent Yukari, and your dad." She paused. "We have to find Akiko. She's getting everyone out of here." Kisa's voice took on a note of panic. "Nala's lost control of her psychic energy release. If we don't get out of here soon, she's gonna pass out and we'll be stuck!"

Alphonse landed on the top of one of the flat-topped trees. "Kisa, you go find Akiko." He ordered, lifting back off the tree.

"What about you?" She asked, grabbing at his sleeve.

Al floated back down a few inches, so he was barely above the leafy platform. "I'm gonna go find my dad and see what I can do to help." Kisa didn't loosen her grip. "Kisa, I'll be fine. I promise."

She still didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway. Leaning in and kissing him quickly, she whispered, "Be careful."

Al nodded, fighting down his blush. "I will be." Kisa turned and bounded off toward what she assumed to be Akiko and the other PSI Cadets meeting place. Alphonse flew off toward the volcano.

--

Sasha Nein was a genius. Give the man a wrench and a pile of scrap metal, and he could build you a machine anywhere from a Brain Tumbler to a doomsday device. Pressure meant nothing to him.

Except for right now when it was his own children and students that were in danger, and from another Psychonaut at that. The only way to stop Nala from effectively knocking herself out was to stop the source of the energy flow: the volcano. But it was a very, VERY large and very, VERY hot volcano, and there wasn't anything around that could possibly help him.

"Dad!" Sasha turned around so quickly that it nearly made him dizzy, startled to see his son flying toward him.

"Alphonse? What are you doing here? You should be with Agent Yukari and the other children."

"I want to help." Al said stubbornly.

Sasha turned back around. "No, Alphonse. Get out of here and let me handle this."

"_Vatti_, please. I know I screwed up last time I tried to help you, but I've practiced since then! I know what I'm doing now! Just let it go! Please." Al begged. "Just give me a chance."

Sasha looked over his shoulder at his son and sighed. "All right. But your mother is not going to be happy with either of us."

Al grinned. "Don't worry, I have an idea."

And as his son explained his plan, Sasha Nein couldn't help but be very proud. The two of them landed at the river that ran around the volcano's base. "Here?" Sasha asked Alphonse.

The boy nodded. "Yeah." 'I think.' He added to himself nervously. Sasha put a hand to his forehead and a bright blue telekinetic hand shot into the volcano's rocky side. A crack split around a large chunk of rock, and Sasha attempted to pull it back. He let out a strained grunt, and another hand of a darker, navy blue flew over to help. Sasha spared a glance sideways at Alphonse to see him concentrating heavily on pulling the boulder out of its place.

Finally, just when both were about to reach their limits, a mighty 'CRACK' filled the air, and the boulder flew over their heads, flattening several trees as it landed. Sasha scooped up his son and flew into the air as lava came pouring out of the newly made hole in the volcano and into the river. Steam billowed around them as the molten rock made contact with the water, growing thicker and thicker with each passing second.

Finally, the steam began to clear, revealing the sight of still-cooling obsidian rock along a good length of the river. Sasha looked up to see that the volcano had stopped spewing smoke, and the ash had stopped falling like a hot, grey snow.

_"Sasha, is that you?" _Akiko asked, her voice relieved and panicked at the same time.

He looked off into the distance. _"Yes, what is it?"_

There was a sigh. _"Thank goodness! We were afraid you got stuck in there for a minute. Nala just suddenly calmed down, and all the kids are okay, but Al hasn't woken up yet."_

_"Don't worry."_ Sasha told her reassuringly. _"He's with me."_

_"Okay, 'cause Milla's out here, and she's freaking out big time."_

Sasha chuckled quietly to himself. Al looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Your mother." Sasha told him, still chuckling. He released Alphonse as the familiar, uncomfortable feeling of being pushed and pulled in several directions at once signaled that he was about to lose his astral form back to his physical body.

--

Sasha blinked behind his sunglasses as he sat up, holding his head. "Ach, my head…" He muttered, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, a pair of familiar go-go boots was standing in his line of vision. Sasha followed them up to see Milla standing there, her arms crossed and a look on her face that said that Sasha was in some deep shit. "Oh… Milla… I can-"

"Don't start with me, Sasha." His wife cut him off.

"Mama?" Asked Alphonse from out of Sasha's vision range.

Milla ran over to her son. "Oh, Al, sweetie, are you alright?"

Al nodded. "I'm fine, mom. Dad took care of me."

"Did he now?" Milla asked turning to fix Sasha with a suspicious stare. Sasha decided that it was a good time to take up cloud gazing, glancing back at his son and wife only when he was sure Milla had stopped glaring at him.

--

"_Mutti_, I'm fine! I don't need to stay in the infirmary!" Alphonse protested as Milla bustled around the room.

She shook her head. "Ayayay, so stubborn, just like your father." She pulled a thermometer out of one of the cabinets. "Open." She ordered, turning back to her son. Al sighed and opened his mouth. He knew very well that there was no arguing with his mother when she was like this.

Milla pulled the thermometer out as it beeped. "Well, you don't have a fever… are you sure you feel alright, sweetie?"

"Yes, mom." Alphonse sighed, getting slightly irritated with his mother's overprotective nature.

Milla sighed. "Alright, go on." She said, shooing him away. Al gladly hopped off the bed and ran outside.

"Alphonse." He stopped and saw Sasha walking toward the infirmary.

"Oh, hey dad." Al greeted.

Sasha walked over to him. "So, I assume that your mother has given you a clean bill of health?"

Al nodded. "Yeah." The two of them stood in awkward silence for a moment, until Al scuffed his foot against the dirt. "Dad, about what I said, back in Agent Sander's mind, I-"

Sasha knelt down in front of his son. "There is no need to explain, Alphonse. You were right. I have been hesitant to trust you because of an accident that anyone could have made. And for that, I am sorry." Sasha smiled at his son. "I couldn't be more proud of you, and I want you to know that."

Al's eyes widened. "Dad…" He didn't say anything else, just threw his arms around his father's neck. Sasha smiled again as he hugged his son back.

--

SC: Finally, I finish! Yeah, I got some fluff in there, and some cute father son bonding. Yea! Oh, and for those of you who are curious as to what exactly Al did, I'm going to write a spin-off called 'The Perfect Son' that will be all about Al and Sarah when they were younger, and what exactly Al did to lose Sasha's trust. I don't know exactly WHEN I'll write it, but write it I will! Anyway, read and review!

Ja ne

SC


	19. Chapter 19

SC: WOOHOO! SCHOOL IS OOOUUUUTTTTT!!!!! Time to par-tay! Oh, and write. Mustn't forget about that.

--

Chapter 19

A New Mission

Milla sighed as she watched the teary goodbyes of the Whispering Rock PSI Cadets. Every year it was like this. Not to say that Agent Vodello-Nein hadn't shed a few tears herself when several of her students came up to give her a couple teary goodbye hugs. Even Hazel had started crying when Akiko and Lili attacked her with a hug.

But some loud and angry sounding yelling in Portuguese quickly drew her attention over to the Caliente twins. Misha was yelling at Tony, for the third time that day, and Tony wasn't listening. Big surprise. He instead was choosing to wave at Emily who was standing across the parking lot, waiting for the bus to arrive. Milla sighed again and went off to drag Sasha out of his lab. Again. Honestly, that man acted like some fresh air every so often would kill him…

"Are you sure that you can't come home with us?" Sarah asked Emily after the blue-haired girl had stopped waving at Tony.

"Well, considering you live in California and I live in Minnesota…"

She giggled. "Oh, right. Hey, have you seen Al?"

Emily thought for a moment. "Hm, he's probably still up at the Main Lodge with Kisa…"

--

"Wow. Massachusetts?"

Kisa nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to a prep school in Salem."

Al propped himself up on his elbows, making sure he wouldn't go sliding off the roof. "That sucks."

"Tell me about it. You've got my cell number and e-mail address, right?"

Al dug around in his jacket pocket for a minute before producing the strip of torn paper that had both written on them. "Yeah, just like when you asked me five minutes ago."

Kisa blushed. "Right. Sorry." She pulled out her cell phone. "Here, hold still." She ordered, aiming the camera lens at him and snapping a picture. "Type in your number for me."

He took the phone and hit it in. "Picture recognition. Great caller ID."

She smiled at him. "Hey, it's the first and only picture I've gotten of you ALL summer. You disappear every time someone pulls out a camera."

"I don't like having my picture taken." Al defended lamely.

"You let me take your picture."

He blushed. "Yeah, but that's because I like you." Kisa smiled, her face pink. "Do I get my own ring tone too?"

"Alphonse Nein, I do believe that you are teasing me."

He smiled. "Maybe just a little."

"Hey!" The two of them peered over the edge of the roof to see Raz standing below them. "Don't make me get your mother up there young lady!"

Kisa laughed. "Daddy…"

Raz couldn't help a wry smile as Alphonse levitated them both down. "C'mon, you have OTHER friends to say goodbye to that won't be running up your cell phone bill for the next year."

"DA-AD!" Kisa groaned. "You act like I only gave out my phone number to Al. Sarah, Misha, Emily, and Becky already have it."

"Great. That's JUST what we need."

Kisa rolled her eyes. "Like it matters. Grandpa pays my cell phone bill, and it's not like HE can't afford it."

Raz shook his head. "You are so spoiled."

"Does that mean I can get a puppy now?"

"No."

Kisa looked over at Al. "Spoiled nothing. Mom had three puppies!" She called after her father.

"The answer is still no, and I thought you said you wanted a cat." Raz called back.

"Touché." Kisa admonished, crossing her arms and following her father.

Al looked over at her. "So, is your grandpa paying for your private school stuff?"

Kisa nodded. "Yeah. He spoils me like he did mom… I think he's trying to make up for not being there as often as my other Papa." She shrugged. "It's not like I don't understand. He's the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. He's busy."

"Hey, Aquato! Get over here and sign my cast already!" Becky called, waving to her from the bottom of the hill that led to the Parking Lot.

She laughed and summoned up her thought bubble. "All right, but you'd better move!" She called, rolling down the hill at top speed. The crowd at the bottom, which Al realized was made up of Sarah, Becky, Misha, and Eli, scattered while laughing madly. The bubble popped as she reached the blacktop, and Kisa quickly did a quick handspring to keep herself from eating pavement. Applause issued from the group who had just scattered, as well as a 'are you trying to kill the cripple?' from a faux-angry Becky.

"Just gimme the pen so I can sign!"

"No way! I don't let wanna-be-murderers sign my cast."

--

"Well, that's everyone." Raz sighed as the bus disappeared around a bend in the road. "Guess that means we'd better get going to."

Lili nodded. "Kisa! C'mon sweetheart, we're leaving!"

"Sarah, Alphonse!" Milla called from next to her racecar-like vehicle. "We're going too, darlings!"

The three bounded over the hill, pushing and shoving each other in what appeared to be a race. One of the three broke away from the tussle and plowed down the hill, and nearly into the cross-sectioned tree. "Ha! I win!" Sarah called, pushing her bangs back into place.

Kisa and Alphonse, who had stopped squabbling with each other, walked down the hill, holding hands. "Only because you shielded to get us off of you." Her brother retorted. As soon as he thought that Raz, Lili, nor his own mother was looking, he leant over and gave her a quick kiss. "Bye."

She nodded sadly and let go of his hand. "Talk to you soon." Kisa ran over to her mother's emerald green Mustang and hopped in the backseat. Al shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and trudged over to his own mother's car, sliding in beside Sarah.

Milla smiled at her son in the rearview mirror. "Aw, cheer up sweetie. I thought you didn't want to come to camp this year."

"Kisa's enthusiasm is contagious." Sarah teased, poking her brother. Alphonse slapped her hand away, blushing. "Ow! Mom, Al hit me!"

He glared at her. "Stop calling me Al."

"You don't mind when Kisa does it."

"Oh that's it! You are so dead!" A bright blue shield rose between the pair, and Sasha slid into the driver's seat.

"Now, now. Can't you two refrain from killing each other until we get home?"

Milla smacked his arm. "Sasha!"

He looked at her questioningly. "What? At least there we can put them in their rooms." Milla sighed.

"Just drive, darling."

-_One month later, the Aquato household…_-

"Raz, could you get that?" I called from the kitchen. The phone was ringing, quite loudly in fact, and I had my hands full.

"Yeah, hold on." He called back. I heard the sound of loud, obnoxious video game music stop, and he ran across the tile floor, skidding to a stop next to the phone. "Aquato residence." A pause. "Oh, hey dad." Pause. "No, Kisa's left for school already." Another pause. "Uh-huh, two weeks ago." Raz turned to me. "Dad says hi."

I smiled. "Tell him I said hi back."

"Yeah, Lili says hi too." He made a face. "Ooh, that sounds fun." He started to walk out of the kitchen. "Well, at least you had the safety net out… hold on dad, there's another call coming in…" There was a slight beep. "Hello?" A pause. "Alright, I'll tell her. Give me a sec, I've got my dad on the other line." Another beep. "Hey, dad, can I call you back later? No, it's nothing serious, just some… eh, business. Alright, tell everyone I said hi. Bye dad."

I set down the potato I'd been chopping up and walked into the living room. "Who called in?"

"Your dad. We've got a mission."

I was quite glad I wasn't holding anything, because I may have dropped it. "Did they find the terrorist who took Ember and the Coach?"

My husband nodded, his expression serious. "He thinks so. Come on." We ran outside and hopped in my car. I pulled out my cell phone as Raz started the engine up. "Calling Kisa?" He questioned, backing out of the driveway.

I nodded and put the phone to my ear. After three rings, the answering machine picked up. _"Hi, this is Kisa. If you're hearing this message, I can't come to the phone right now or just flat out don't like you. I'll call you back when I get the message, which I probably won't, and… yeah, okay."_ The automated computer voice instructed me to leave a message after the tone, or to press one for more options. I chose to wait out to the tone.

"Hey sweetheart, it's mom. Listen, your grandpa just called with some important news…"

--

"I'll back in a second Annie. Just let me get my history book." Kisa called as she walked into her large and quite frankly plush dorm room. "Now where'd I put that stupid thing?" She muttered, tossing down her baby blue backpack. She got down on her hands and knees and peered underneath her way-too-big-for-comfort bed. "Not under there… here booky, booky, booky…" Kisa called, knowing full well that she sounded like an idiot.

"Check your desk!" Annie called from the hallway. Kisa peered up and over to her (also rather large desk) to see her history book sitting atop it, along with other assorted papers (read: random homework that she was supposed to turn in). She stood, brushed her knees off expertly, and walked over, picking the book up and pulling stay Algebra papers out of it.

"Huh. I wondered where those got to." She shrugged and began to turn away, but stopped as she noticed the blinking red light on her cell phone, which had mysteriously unburied itself as she shifted her textbook. "Missed call…" She frowned, perplexed. Who would've called her during school hours? Certainly not Alphonse… Sarah perhaps? No, no. Sasha wouldn't let her bring her phone to school unless Al was holding it for her. She picked up the small phone and flipped it open.

'_**1 missed call: Mom'**_

Kisa's eyes widened. Her mother would NEVER call her during a school day unless something was up. Her dad, sure. Like he cared. But not her mom. "Hey, Annie, tell the guys that I might not be coming."

"What's wrong?"

"Family issue. It could be serious though."

There was what sounded like an irate sigh from outside. "Your family needs some SERIOUS therapy, Kisa."

"Tell me about it." She muttered as Annie's footsteps faded down the hall. She quickly hit the 'play message' cue on her phone and held it close to her ear.

_"Hey sweetheart, it's mom. Listen, your grandpa just called with some important news, so your father and I won't be home for a few days. He thinks he found our little terror, and we're heading down to Florida to talk to him about it. You know how to get a hold of us if you need anything. Love you sweetie."_

To anyone else who had just heard this message, it would've just seemed like Lilianna Aquato had simply told her daughter that she and Raz were heading to Florida to see her grandfather. But Kisa had long since broken down translating the hidden meanings of her parents' messages into an art form. What Lili was really saying was:

_"Kisa, your grandpa just called with a new assignment. He thinks HQ may have tracked down our terrorist, so we're heading in to talk to him. You know how to reach us, but only if it's an emergency. Love you sweetie."_

She never had figured out if there was a secret meaning for 'love you sweetie.'

--

"Does it make me sound like a ten year old if I say that I STILL love the fact that we have a private jet?" Raz asked as he boarded the Psitanium powered aircraft.

"Only slightly, darling." Milla answered, having been picked up already with Sasha.

"So did they really find him?" Lili asked, sitting down across from Sasha.

He shrugged. "Hazel _thinks_ she got a lock on Ember's signature from the hair band Kisa found."

Raz let out a relieved sigh. "That's good then. Whenever Hazel 'thinks' she's found something, it usually leads us right to what we want and more."

Milla let out a small chuckle. "Yes, our clairvoyants do have a tendency of giving us more than we bargain for."

"Oh, you mean you WEREN'T prepared for a dozen armed troops to greet us when we went to rescue Lili from that psycho nut case when we were in High School?" Raz asked, sarcasm oozing from his words.

"They probably were, YOU just ruined Plan A by rushing headlong into things and running into the armed guards." Lili told him.

Raz shrugged. "Big deal. Sasha had a backup plan. Hell, he had a backup plan FOR his backup plan." The young Psychonaut looked over at his mentor to ready himself for a comeback, probably about his inability to wait patiently, but found none. Sasha was staring blankly at the wall in front of him (blankly only because his face was expressionless and Raz couldn't see his eyes), looking as though he hadn't even heard Raz's teasing.

"Hey, earth to Sasha!" Lili said, waving her hand in front of his rose-colored glasses. Sasha sat up straighter, looking at her.

"I'm sorry. I was… thinking." He ended lamely.

Milla sighed and put her hand over her husband's. "We're worried about them too, Sasha. Morry and Ember will be fine. We'll find them."

Sasha managed an almost believable smile at his wife before the plane shook violently, throwing all four agents out of their chairs. "I have a feeling that wasn't turbulence…" Lili said, pulling herself up and over to the cockpit doors. She turned around after a second of fiddling. "They won't open."

Raz stood, using the chairs for support as the plane bucked and swayed and fell against the door. It may have been bullet-proof (PSI and regular) and flame proof, but the door certainly wasn't 'Raz proof.' One quick punch and the doors buckled like paper. Sasha reminded himself to tell Truman that he needed to reinforce those supposedly reinforced steel doors that he equipped in the jets. He also reminded himself to get his mind back on the task at hand.

Or, at least, he would've, if the equivalent of a psychic sledgehammer hadn't chosen that moment to smack him in the head. He fell to the floor with a groan, Milla, Raz, and Lili following soon after.

And he could've just been imagining it, but before he blacked out, Sasha could've sworn that the cockpit's autopilot was laughing at them.

Unfortunately for Sasha, he WASN'T merely hallucinating because of head trauma. The autopilot was indeed having a good chuckle at the Psychonauts'. But it wasn't really the autopilot…

"Monster!" Ember yelled as her captor watched everything on a large plasma screen. She was kneeling on the ground, thick chains, all shiny and new, holding her arms above her head and a metal collar around her neck. Her startling, sky-blue hair cascaded down her shoulders and back, reaching down almost to her knees with the absence of her scrunchie. Dirt and grease messied it, while mud covered her tattered clothing and boots, while dried blood was crusted around her wrists from pulling at her bonds. Dirt was smeared across her cheek bone, and there were several bruises forming across the left half of her face that looked as though she had slammed headfirst into a set of metal bars..

Cold, icy eyes glared back at Ember over the arm of a plush chair. "Ms. McClain, please do not make me repeat myself when I say SHUT UP!"

Ember glared at the chair and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on making it explode into flame. But she'd barely managed to tap into the psychic energy in her mind before a jolt of painful energy shot through her body. Her head flew back in a scream, her bright blue-green eyes wide in pain and fear. The chains pinning her to the wall rattled as her body arched and convulsed, trying to pull away from the pain.

Then it was gone, stopping as suddenly as it started, leaving Ember slumped over, gasping for breath in shuddering sobs, being supported only by the chains holding her arms over her head. Tears ran down the Pyrokinesis master's face, cutting tracks into the grime covering her face.

"I warned you. You're psychic powers won't work here. Not while I'm still breathing, anyway." The voice laughed.

Ember managed to pull her head up to glare at the person. "Why… why did you kidnap me and Coach Oleander? Why hurt Sasha and the others? What the hell did we ever do to you?!"

The figure stood, their features shadowed by the light of the screen behind him. All Ember could see was a pair of glowing blue eyes. "Oh, it's not what YOU did, Ms. McClain. But you'll pay for it, all of the Psychonauts will. I'll make SURE of THAT." He hissed. "Now, I do believe it's time for your medicine." He turned around and lifted something off of the computer desk in front of the chair. Turning again, Ember saw the glint of metal in the light, and struggled futilely against what she knew was coming next.

The figure grabbed a fistful of her dirtied locks and forced her head forward and down. On the back of her neck sat a small circle of metal attached to the collar with three dots in a triangle pattern punched through it. The figure stabbed the three pronged syringe into the holes, and after the dark liquid in it had drained out, Ember's protests grew weak and finally stopped. "Much better." He smirked, looking down on the now unconscious agent.

Slowly, he walked over to the other person in the room. Morceau Oleander had not been awake for a long time, but it couldn't hurt to check. A smile graced the figure's lips as he saw that 'The Coach' still hadn't awoken from his induced slumber. He took to the serum much more readily then Ember had. He swiftly stepped back to the computer table and typed in the Psychonauts' private jet's new coordinates.

Everything was going according to plan…

--

SC: DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNN! Sorry, a dramatic music effect seemed quite appropriate there. Anyway, even though my reviewers seem to like being mean and have put me in quite the review slump lately, I WILL keep updating, simply because I'm having fun with my stories again. So, if all of you were hoping to drive me off or something, IT AIN'T GONNA WORK, SO HA! (Ha ha!)

But, for those of you who just haven't reviewed and still love me, I would REALLY like a review. Seriously, a flame would be something right now… but don't flame me just because I said that, okay?

Ja ne  
SC


	20. Chapter 20

SC: I really just don't have much to say…

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up.

--

Chapter 20

Grand theft... airplane?

It had been two days since my mom had called me. I checked my e-mail every minute, on the minute, when I was in my room, staying up until I eventually fell asleep at my computer.

Something was wrong. Mom may not have called, but she always at least sent me an e-mail, even if it just said 'Hi' or 'We're still alive.' I hit the reload button on my screen. No new messages flashed up as the page loaded for the fiftieth time that day. Grabbing my cell phone, I opened up the contacts menu and pressed the 3 button, then call.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi Dogen. It's Kisa."

"_Oh, hi Kisa. What's up?_" Dogen Boole was one of my father's best friends since that summer at Whispering Rock. He was a Psychonaut now, and thankfully had control of that little quirk of his that made peoples heads explode. But he still wore the hat. He thought it looked cool. Don't know why.

I bit my lip. "My mom and dad got sent on a mission a couple of days ago, and I haven't heard from them yet. Have they contacted HQ at all?"

There was a minute of silence on the other line. "_Not that I know of. Hold on, let me ask Bobby._" Bobby Zilch was an agent too, though my dad said he didn't know how he made it. He was better at being nice now, but his job at the agency was to make tough suspects- usually terrorists- crack. There was no 'good cop, bad cop.' It was 'rip into their mental landscape until you FIND something useful.'

Dogen picked the phone back up a second later. "_Kisa, the report just came in. Raz, Lili, Milla, and Sasha have been missing since a few hours after they left on the job._"

"What?" I cried.

"_Sorry Kisa._"

"It's okay, Dogen. Thanks for telling me." I said, hanging up. I quickly closed my e-mail and searched for the Psychonauts branch. I was taking a little trip up to New York…

--

'I forgot how much I hate teleporting.' Kisa shuddered inwardly as she arrived in Psychonauts Headquarters. Walking through the door, she submitted to the telepathic scans and, after it was confirmed who she was, headed up to the desk.

"Hello Kisa." The receptionist, Madeline- Maddy for short- greeted.

"Hey Maddy. Is my grandpa in his office?"

She nodded. "Busy with paperwork. You going up for a visit?" Kisa nodded. Maddy handed her a card with a glowing Psitanium logo on it. "All right, but remember-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Kisa sighed as she walked toward the elevator. "No detours. It's not like everyone here doesn't know me anyway." She added under her breath as she pried away the button panel to reveal a card lock. Swiping the card, the elevator doors opened, revealing a stainless steel elevator interior. Kisa walked through, waiting impatiently for the doors to close behind her. The opposite wall slid open as they shut, and Kisa stepped into the REAL Psychonauts HQ.

'Note to self: Tell gramps to lay off the MIB.' Kisa thought with a smile. Several agents greeted her as she passed them, and she waved back, too focused on getting to her destination.

Two flights of stairs later- everyone levitated around here, who needed elevators?- Kisa found herself standing in front of a mahogany door with the words 'Grand Head' emblazoned in gold, with her grandfather's name on a plaque underneath them.

Turning the knob, she walked inside. "If it isn't important, I'll have to ask you to leave." Truman Zanatto called from behind his desk, too involved in his computer screen to turn around.

"It's nice to see you too, grandpa." Kisa said, crossing her arms.

NOW he looked up. Smiling, he stood and walked around his desk, stopping halfway to his granddaughter. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Shouldn't you be telling me when my parents go missing?" She retorted, her fists on her hips.

Truman frowned sadly as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Kisa, you know I would've."

She pouted. "Yeah, once you found them, maybe! Grandpa, I shouldn't have to go to Dogen to find out that the Psychonauts' best four agents have been kidnapped by a most likely unstable terrorist who already kidnapped their, like, only competent recruit trainer and best Pyrokinetic!"

Truman sighed. "I'm sorry, Kisa." He said, hugging her. Kisa folded and hugged her grandfather back. A beeping filled the air, and Truman swiftly made his way back to his computer. "Sweetheart, I have to go to a meeting. Do you think you could stay here until I get back?" Kisa nodded, watching as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as the door 'clicked' into place, Kisa ran over to her grandfather's desk and pulled open the top drawer. Inside laid a chunk of Psitanium carved in the Psychonaut logo. Grabbing it, she slammed the drawer shut and ran out of the room.

--

"Mr. Zanatto!" Dogen and Bobby ran into the meeting room, ultimately disrupting the briefing the Grand Head was giving. "Sorry for the intrusion, sir, but, um…" Dogen started nervously. "It's about Kisa…"

Truman's eyes narrowed. "What _about_ Kisa, Agent Boole?"

"Um… well, you see, she… um…"

"Kisa stole your private jet." Bobby finished, giving Dogen a somewhat friendly whack on the head to make him stop 'um'ing.

--

'You've gotta love autopilot.' Kisa thought to herself happily as she typed in the coordinates to the Nein household. Pulling her cell phone out, she hit 'four' and 'call'.

After three rings, someone picked up. "_Hello?_"

"Al? It's Kisa."

"_Hey Kisa. Listen, now isn't the best time…_"

Kisa sighed. "Yeah, I know. Our parents are missing. I'm working on that."

There was a pause. "_Kisa, I know that tone. What did you do?_"

The young psychic grinned evilly; not that Alphonse could see it, but she did anyway. "Al, have you ever ridden on a jet?"

--

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Alphonse yelled as Kisa told him. Sarah looked up from her magazine, now curious. "Kisa, you could get in big trouble- no, it doesn't matter if he's your grandfather!" A pause. "Alright. Yes, okay, I understand. See you in a couple of hours then."

Sarah sat up, now VERY curious. "Kisa's coming here? How?"

Al took a very deep breath before answering. "Via the Grand Head's private, untraceable jet."

"She stole her grandfather's JET?" Al nodded. Sarah paused, and then quietly asked, "Does she know where mom and dad are?"

He shrugged. "She said she's working on it."

Sarah sighed, going back to her 'Seventeen.' "We are gonna be in SO much trouble…"

--

SC: Oh, if only Sarah knew how right she was! Is. Whatever. Anyway, I know it's short, but I'm trying to update 'cause I'm gonna be gone from the sixth to the twelfth/thirteenth. So, expect all story updates, short or long as they may be, and please review!

Ja ne

SC


	21. Chapter 21

SC: I really just don't have much to say… except that I'm totally excited right now because Kisa, Alphonse, and Ember got nominated to the PFGs! Squee! And if you don't know what the PFGs are, they are the Psychonauts Fanfiction Grammies. So, to whoever nominated them for the Best Camper and Best OC award, thanks SO much! Go to the forums and vote for them please!

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up. Three of whom are nominated. W00T! (Hehe, sorry. I'm gonna let it drop now.)

--

Chapter 21

A Hunch

"I can't believe you did this." Al muttered as he stared out a window of the GRAND HEAD'S private jet. White cloud greeted him.

"So you've said twelve times." Kisa told him, tapping away on the control panels in the cockpit. "Besides, this thing is totally tracker proof. Gramp's is paranoid and thinks that if the agency gets invaded or something they're actually gonna try to track this thing. Only way to do it is with his key card… which is coincidentally in my back pocket."

Sarah finally spoke up. "Kisa, this isn't a game."

"Don't you think I know that?" The Aquato snapped, rounding on the girl. "Knowing that is the whole reason I'm doing this! No one else will step up to find our parents and the Coach and Ember, so I have to! So just shut up about this not being a game! I've known that since I was born you idiot!" She said, her voice getting higher with every word. Kisa slapped a hand over her mouth as the last words left her mouth. "I-I… Sarah, I didn't mean that."

Sarah nodded, her eyes wide with fear and shock from this outburst. "I know. You're just stressed out."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I'm gonna have a rap sheet at fourteen for stealing my grandpa's private jet." Kisa chuckled, trying to blow it over as nothing and failing.

Al finally turned away from the window. "So, do we have a plan?"

Kisa looked surprised that he was speaking again. "Yeah, actually. See, the setup in this thing can track another Psychonaut issue jet's Psitanium signature for up to five days. I've set the computer on search mode to find out what jet grandpa issued our parents and it'll be a simple matter of just setting the autopilot to follow the trail." She paused. "I think."

"You think?"

Kisa shrugged awkwardly. "Well… I'm not exactly a tech expert. I set up the search, but I don't know if it'll actually be able to catch on to it this far awa-" She stopped as there was a slight 'ping' from the cockpit. "Hey! It worked!" Kisa said, sounding quite surprised and running toward the large doors. She returned a moment later with a list in her hand. "Okay, I've got the jet, but I can't get the tracking device working."

Al stood up. "Whoever brought the jet down has to have a lot of power. They could have disabled the device already or may just be cloaking it. You said this thing could follow Psitanium trails, right?" Kisa nodded, astounded at Al's sudden willingness to cooperate. "Let me see that sheet." She handed it over and he walked into the control room. Kisa and Sarah glanced at each other before following after him.

Alphonse was moving his fingers so quickly over the console's many boards, neither girl thought it humanly possible. "What are you doing?" Kisa asked, looking at the flashing computer screen.

"Speed reading." He told her without pulling his eyes away.

"One of his more annoying habits." Sarah said with an annoyed sigh, going back over to her seat and her 'Vogue.' Don't ask me where she gets all these magazines; ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies. Or get really confused as to what happened to the Seventeen magazine she was reading last chapter.

Kisa shook her head, sitting on the arm of his chair. "No, I meant what's all this?" She asked, pointing at the screen.

"Trajectory calculations, tracking signals, radar, stuff like that. The only way to take control of a Psychonaut standard issue jet, which is what this one was, is to either tamper with the Psitanium powering it, and by tamper I mean forcibly remove, or have a larger amount to take control."

"But there's no amount of Psitanium anywhere that could take control of the jets. They're powered by a boulder of the stuff strapped to their backs." Kisa said, confused.

"Exactly. But according to the trackers, the jet went down about here." He brought a graph up on the screen which showed the jets takeoff, a straight flight path with the regular little ups and downs of turbulence, and then a sharp drop.

"So… what, the jet went down?" She gasped, a note of panic entering her voice.

Al looked up at her. "Not exactly. This tracks the Psitanium signature of a certain jet, not the jet itself. I'm trying to alter the program to the jet's serial number, but it's not working, hence the trajectory charts."

Kisa smiled at him and gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "You're brilliant." As Alphonse blushed, he could hear Sarah scoff 'Oh, gag me' quietly behind them. "So, where do your charts of awesomeness say that the jet went?"

He blinked, getting back on task. "Well, the trail goes down at an angle, like this." He said, opening a 3D model of the graph. "That means that, when the Psitanium was removed from the plane, it didn't go straight down."

"The plane was turning?" Kisa guessed.

Al nodded. "Exactly. So, by using the angle of the fall, I managed to figure out where the plane turned and how far and how fast it was going. I should have the results in just a second…" He grinned triumphantly as another simulation jumped up, showing him the flight path. "Bingo!"

"Alright, genius boy, so where's it heading?" Sarah asked, tossing her magazine down and walking over.

Al began his furious typing again. "Well, assuming that the plane was being drawn directly toward the larger Psitanium source that took over and therefore flew on a straight path…" He frowned. "No way… that's not possible!"

"What?" Both girls asked at once.

He shook his head. "This is insane, but… the nearest Psitanium source large enough to overpower the plane is at Whispering Rock!"

Kisa gasped. "Ford's sanctuary!"

"What?" The twins asked, and two pairs of navy blue eyes focused on her. Kisa quickly gave them a shortened version of what went on below the camp.

"You know," Al muttered, crossing his arms thoughtfully, "If someone could hack into Ford's systems, then it would be very easy to take control of a Psychonaut's jet."

"Great, so, what? We've got a psychic terrorist who's a world class hacker now too?" Sarah asked.

"Apparently." Al said, answering even though it was obvious Sarah didn't want him to. "Looks like we're heading back to Whispering Rock." He sighed, typing the destination into the autopilot.

--

"This place is really… quiet… without anyone here." Sarah whispered, scooching closer to Alphonse. He rolled his eyes and pushed her away.

"Sarah, you haven't been scared of the dark since you were six. You don't need me to hold your hand."

Sarah glanced pointedly down at her brother's hand, which was grasping Kisa's, fingers entwined. "Yeah, I see you're busy doing that for someone else."

Both Kisa and Al were grateful that the lamps weren't working so Sarah couldn't see them blush. "We've got a bigger problem. With none of the lights working, how are we going to make it down to Ford's sanctuary?" Al asked.

"Where is it, anyway? You never told us how to get there, Kisa." Sarah said, pouting.

Kisa grinned. "Oh, you guys are gonna LOVE this…"

--

"Kisa Aquato, you are a cruel, evil woman." Sarah growled as she stood up, wiping dirt and soot off of her clothes.

"I know. I shall have to pay later." Kisa sighed sarcastically. "I'd kinda hoped that the train would be fixed by now, but…"

Al shrugged. "At least the lights work down here."

Sarah pouted still, but it was less obvious. "I guess…"

There was a small sigh from Kisa. "Let's just go…"

--

SC: Cliffhanger! Yes, yes. I know. You all hate me. But I had to do it. My bestest friend is threatening me (or she will if I don't post this soon) with physical bodily harm if I didn't post it… which I really shouldn't be too scared of, since she's over a thousand miles away right now… I don't know. Short people are scary when they're mad.

Review please! Ja ne  
SC


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up.

--

Chapter 22

A Thorny Problem

"Ford?" Kisa called, using her Thought Bubble to bounce into the large, cavernous sanctuary. Nothing seemed to be amiss.

Al and Sarah levitated out after her. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Sarah asked. "I don't see any-EEEEK!" She cut off with a loud shriek as Ford's astral projection popped up in front of the three.

"Hi Ford." Kisa greeted, biting her lip to stop from laughing at Sarah. This failed as a few snickers escaped, making Sarah glare at her.

"I hate you, you ruined my life!" She faux angrily yelled at Kisa, this act ruined by the small detail that she was giggling as well.

"Thank goodness you're alright, Kisa." Ford sighed, scratching his head. "I'd gotten a report that you'd stolen Truman's-" He stopped as the girl grimaced. "Kisa Aquato!"

"I had to!" Kisa defended. "Grandpa wasn't doing anything to save them!" She looked away, scuffing her foot on the ground meekly. "Besides, I'm gonna give it back."

Ford sighed again, shaking his head wearily, muttering under his breath. "…too much like your father for your own good."

"Hey, I happen to enjoy being like my dad." She told Ford with a pout.

He smirked at her. "Yeah, I know. Lemme guess; Sarah and Alphonse Nein?" He asked, looking at the two behind her.

The twins nodded. Ford smiled at them. "I'd offer to shake your hands, but as astral projections aren't quite solid…" A thought seemed to strike Ford at that moment and he looked down at Kisa. "What are you three doing in Whispering Rock anyway?"

Kisa looked back at Al. The boy sighed and explained his theory to the once Grand Head.

Ford nodded as Alphonse finished. "Smart kid. Definitely your father's son." Al blushed happily. "In any case, if that plane came over Whispering Rock, then my cameras would have caught it."

"Cameras?" Sarah asked.

He smiled at her. "Yeah. Have to keep an eye on you little spoon benders somehow." Three sets of eyes widened. "Ah, I'm just kiddin' ya. These here cameras are for watching out for any unidentified air intrusions."

Alphonse, being the genius- a word which is often synonymous with 'dork'-, was immediately intrigued. "So, if something breached the airspace perimeter in this place, then the cameras would catch it?"

Ford nodded. "Yep. Just give me a second." He frowned, concentrating, and a panel rose from the center of the room, a deep purple Psitanium box pulsing around the top. Placing his hand on the rock, Ford smiled as the Psitanium fell away, revealing a smaller, carved chunk sitting in a plate of metal.

"It reads psychic auras?" Al muttered, looking at the hanging chunks of throbbing rock. "I should get something like this for my room."

Ford chuckled, "gripping" the stone. "I don't think you'll find anything much like this anywhere, Alphonse. Now, let's see if we can pull up those video records…" The numerous screens floating around the room suddenly were showing the recordings of the numerous cameras around camp. "Now I check for any disturbances." One of the screens flashed red and enlarged to the appearance of a large flat screen TV. Without the TV part.

"What's that shape?" Sarah asked, pointing to the frozen image.

Kisa squinted and turned her head to the side a bit. "It looks kinda like some weird giant bird." The three of them looked at each other, unanimously exclaiming, "The jet!"

"This was only taken a couple of hours ago." Al muttered, looking at the time displayed in the corner. "That means they can't have gotten far. Ford, can you check the other cameras?"

The ex-Grand Head nodded, and several other screens turned red and enlarged. Most just showed the same things, freeze frames of the jet flying overhead of Whispering Rock. As for the last…

"Ford, this one doesn't look like it's in Whispering Rock." Kisa said, pointing to one of the screens.

Ford's eyes widened. "Lemme see that." Kisa obligingly stepped out of the way as Ford bent over the screen. "Oh no…" He murmured, examining the picture.

"Why are you saying 'oh no'? Saying that means that something bad is happening." Sarah said, peering around Ford at the screen.

Ford pointed at the screen. "This is a picture of the jet descending for a landing."

"Well, isn't that good?" Kisa asked, looking up at him.

Ford shook his head. "Normally, I'd say yes. But the jet's landed on the ruins of Thorny Towers."

"Why would it go there?"

"Why would anything go there?" Sarah asked. "Bad guy, duh."

Kisa crossed her arms. "Looks like we're heading to Thorny Towers."

"Hold it right there, young lady." Ford said, putting his hands on his hips. "You three aren't going anywhere near that place."

"Ford-"

"Don't even try it, Kisa. There's no way for you to get over there anyway." All three looked at each other, grimacing as they realized he was right. "I'll call Truman and tell him where the jet's landed. You three head down to the lodge and stay there. Now, git!" Dejectedly, the three turned and hopped back down into the transportation system.

--

"Well, now what?" Sarah asked, dangling her feet over the side of one of the tables.

Alphonse sighed, kicking a random pebble on the floor. "We sit here and wait for the Psychonauts, I guess."

"I'm sorry, that is not the correct answer. Would you care to guess again?" Kisa asked in a mock-cheery voice.

Sarah rapped Kisa on the head. "Um, hello? Earth to Kisa, we can't leave or Ford'll know, and there's no way for us to get over to Thorny Towers anyway."

Kisa shook her head, tsk-ing. "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. You obviously don't know me very well. Just because FORD says there's no way over doesn't mean that there isn't one." She said with a grin. "Follow me."

--

"I'm not going in that thing." Sarah said, crossing her arms.

"Why not?" Kisa asked, crossing her arms. Behind her was the diving helmet/submersible.

Al sighed. "Kisa, that can't be safe…"

"Sure it is. Look, we'll just head down to the lake bottom, find Linda, and she'll take us to the other side. Easy."

"But what if Linda isn't down there? Or if the bubble moved?" Kisa blinked, then stomped her foot.

"Stop ruining my plans!" She ordered, crossing her arms. "Just let me think…" The Aquato muttered, closing her eyes.

"Kisa?" Al asked, stepping closer. Just in time, to, because Kisa's body went slack and toppled over. "Kisa!"

Both the twins knelt down next to the girl. "Is she okay?" Sarah asked, her navy blue eyes switching between Kisa and her brother's face, worriedly.

Al put two fingers against Kisa's forehead and closed his eyes, concentrating. They snapped open suddenly, and he let out a relieved sigh. "She's fine. Exploring the Collective Unconscious."

Sitting for a few minutes, neither of the Nein twins said a word until Kisa's bright green eyes snapped open. She sat up, looking around at both of them. "We've got our ride." The Aquato said, grinning as she stood up and ran down the docks to the beach. Sarah and Alphonse shared a confused look before scrambling up and following her.

"Kisa, what are we waiting for, exactly?"

"You'll see." She told Al with a grin over her shoulder. For some reason, the grin didn't make him feel any better.

Nor did it make him feel any better when a giant creature came stomping out of the lake. Sarah shrieked and hid behind him as he stood there, staring at the creature with a feeling of awestruck terror.

Kisa, however, was grinning with an odd, out of place friendliness. "Hey Linda."

Both the Nein twins jumped in surprise as a watery, distorted voice replied, "Hello, savior's child. What favor did you need of me?"

"I need you to take me, Sarah, and Al over to Thorny Towers. Or what's left of it, anyway."

Linda nodded, and Kisa turned to the two twins. "Okay, come on."

Cautiously, the two walked over. "Kisa, how are we going to get across the lake? You can't swim."

"Who said anything about US swimming?" She asked, a mischievous on her face.

--

Sarah shuddered as Linda spat them out on the banks of the island across the lake. "Never again. I'll take a canoe over here next time if I have to."

"It wasn't that bad." Kisa said, rolling her eyes. "Thanks, Linda! Say hi to Mr. Pokeylope for me!" Linda wriggled a fin in her way of waving goodbye as she sank back below the water. All three turned and looked up at the cliff behind them.

Alphonse sighed. "Well, let's go…"

--

"You know," Sarah puffed as she hauled herself over the edge of the cliff, "I don't see why we couldn't have just levitated up here."

"I already told you." Alphonse said, leaning up against a half fallen tree, attempting to catch his breath. "Using any psychic ability may set off some sort of proximity alarm. No unnecessary risks."

"Besides that, you two could use the exercise." Kisa commented offhandedly, not worn out in the least.

Both glared at her.

"What? I'm just saying." She shrugged, turning around. "Woah." She gasped.

"I second that emotion." Alphonse whispered, his navy blue eyes looking over the wreckage in front of them. "How are we ever going to find anything in this place?"

Sarah bent down and picked up three black feathers. "We get a bird's eye view."

--

_"I STILL don't see anything."_ Kisa sighed in telepathic annoyance. _"What about you two?"_

_"Rocks, rocks, and, oh look! More rocks."_ Sarah replied sarcastically.

_"Yeah, it's clear over here t- wait! I found the jet!"_ Alphonse called. All three snapped back into their bodies.

"All right, Al, lead the way." Kisa said, blinking several times to get her vision back to normal.

After climbing over rubble and being startled by several equally surprised crows, the three PSI cadets reached the spot where Edgar's tower once stood to find the abandoned, Psychonaut issue jet. "Think it's safe to go inside?" Sarah asked.

"Probably. I don't think that whoever kidnapped them would keep them inside the jet. It wouldn't be safe. They have to have a safe location somewhere." Alphonse murmured, stepping closer.

"So, our parents are probably in the creep's base?" Kisa asked, eyeing the lowered ramp protruding from the jet's underside cautiously. "Does anyone else feel like this is a bad RPG plot?"

"Slightly." Alphonse replied, climbing up the ladder.

Sarah shook her head, glancing over at Kisa. "I swear, whenever you're around, that boy grows more of a backbone than he's ever had his entire life."

Kisa just smiled. "Yeah, I have that effect on people sometimes."

Alphonse levitated out of the jet. "I couldn't get anything out of there; there's no psychic residue, nothing that's not nailed to the floor, even the Psitanium key is gone. Whoever this guy is, he's good. He's had this all planned out for a while."

"How good? I mean, big deal, he knows how to cover his tracks and he's a thief. So does every other half-rate psychic terrorist in the world." Sarah said with no little amount of skepticism. "Maybe he just took the key to give himself a boost."

"Do you really think that some PT junkie would've bothered- or been able- to kidnap four of the greatest Psychonauts in the agency?" Kisa asked. "I mean, if he needed a fix, he probably wouldn't have gone and hijacked a jet by remote control and brought it all the way out to the ruins of an abandoned insane asylum, just for a piece of Psitanium that's as big as my palm and flat as a quarter."

"As long-winded a shoot down as that was, I have to say I agree." Alphonse said. "No way could some junked up psychic take over a jet- especially not if he needed a fix like you're suggesting Sarah. You've seen what happens to these guys when they start going through withdrawals."

Sarah grimaced, obviously remembering the situations her brother was describing. "Okay, good point. But why steal the key? I mean, there's no purpose-"

Kisa's eyes widened. "Unless… oh god."

Alphonse and Sarah looked over at her. "Um, Kisa? I'm really not all that good at telepathy. What are you seeing that we're not?" Alphonse asked.

Kisa swallowed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before continuing. "The only reason to take the key… would be to prevent the escape of your enemies if they found it." Kisa's emerald eyes opened, now filled with worry. "We've got to get out of here, now!"

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't allow that." All three whipped around in time to see what appeared to be a confusion grenade flying toward them, only it was… purple?

"Shields!" Alphonse cried.

There was a gleefully malicious laugh that seemed to radiate from all around them. Kisa's eyes widened. "Wait, don't! Don't shield!" She cried, throwing a hand out as if the action would stop her two friends.

The purple confusion grenade- instead of bouncing off of the shields, as would have been expected- it rolled over the edge of Sarah's bright pink shield, exploding with a flash and earth-shattering BANG(!) that sent all three Cadets flying.

Kisa sat up, shaking her head. Her goggles had been sent skewed across her face, one lens still covering her eye, the other hanging on her cheek, the one visible emerald orb glazed over slightly. Blinking a couple times, she readjusted the goggles over her eye and glanced around. Her friends were lying on the ground feet away from her, and each other, groaning as they pushed themselves up.

Then Sarah screamed, pawing at her eyes frantically. "I can't see! I can't see!" She shrieked, her screams drawing the attention of her brother, who let out a surprised yell as he found himself in a similar situation.

"Sarah, Al!" Kisa yelled, though her efforts proved pointless- Sarah's terrified screams were too loud for either of them to hear her. Screwing up her face in concentration, she let out a considerable louder "yell" in her mind. _"SARAH! STOP SCREAMING!"_

The sudden intrusion into her mind made the German/Brazilian girl stop screaming quite abruptly. Kisa sighed in relief and stood up. "Sarah, Al. Just stay put for a second, alright?"

There was a sniffle from Sarah's direction, then a tiny and quiet, "Nn'kay." There was only silence from Alphonse.

"Al? You okay over there?"

"Kisa, I've suddenly and for apparently no reason gone blind. Do you THINK I'm alright?"

The auburn haired girl put her hands on her hips and 'hmph'ed. "Your sarcasm is NOT appreciated, Mr. Moody. I think I know how to fix this, if I'm right." She picked her way over the rubble- old and newly blasted- and over to a still smoking, scorched hold in the earth which was littered with…

"Thought so." Kisa said, picking up a glowing purple shard. "Psitanium. Someone's had a lot of time on their hands." She stood back up. "Okay, well, I know how to fix it."

Alphonse looked over at her over his shoulder. The authoress uses this term loosely, considering that Alphonse has just gone blind. "What exactly is this 'it' you're fixing anyway?"

"Well, whoever made this thing knew what they were doing. It's a Psychic version of a flash bomb. It directly effects the brain and disables sight. Thankfully, it's not permanent and wears off anywhere from five to ten minutes. Until then, you'll have to use Clairvoyance."

"How do you know all that?" Sarah asked, astounded.

"My grandpa's the head of the Psychonauts. There were so many kidnapping attempts on my mom when she was younger she lost count." Kisa said, shrugging. "Apparently, someone used one to get past her bodyguards once." She walked over to Sarah and pulled her up. "Just keep a hold on my arm, okay?" Sarah nodded, hugging Kisa's arm tightly, as the two of them slowly moved over to where Alphonse was already standing.

He smirked at Kisa, holding up something in his hand. "I think I got it." Kisa looked more closely at it, and realized that it was the piece of paper that she had written her cell number and e-mail address on. She smiled and took his hand anyway, her smile widening as he squeezed it back.

"Let's go."

--

SC: Okay, bad ending, but I'm starting to do filler. NOES! So, here is where it ends. Besides, I need to update. Really badly. Anyway, Read and Review please!

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up.

Chapter 23

On the Inside

"Kisa?" Sarah asked finally. "Where are we going?"

Kisa didn't look over at her- mainly because her eyes were closed. "I'm trying to follow the psychic trail that this guy left, but it's harder than it sounds. There are so many lingering auras here from before it's hard to pick out just one."

"He's really good at covering his tracks, too." Alphonse added, his eyes staring blankly ahead. "He went straight through three really aura-heavy zones. Where did those come from?"

"Gloria, Edgar, and Fred." Kisa said. "They used to be inmates here. My dad ended up curing them while he was trying to stop Coach Oleander and Doctor Loboto." She paused, closing her eyes. "Lucky for us Gloria's garden is far enough away from the courtyard for the trail to pick up again." She gave a small tug on both of the hands in hers and the three started forward, picking their way through the shattered remains of flower pots and rubble.

Sarah brushed a free hand over a miraculously still standing pot and shivered a little. "What is it?" Kisa asked.

"It's the blindness. It's making our retrocognition stronger." Alphonse answered.

"Retro…? Oh, seeing stuff that already happened." Kisa said, nodding. "So, what do you see?"

"That Gloria obviously stuck her finger in an electric socket as a child."

If this had been an anime, Kisa was sure she would've sweatdropped. "How about closer to present time. Like within the past few minutes?"

"Fine, fine. Someone came through here- I'm guessing that since we're the only ones here, it was the guy we're looking for." Sarah sighed. "Killjoy."

Kisa cracked open an eye and glared over at her. "Sarah, this isn't supposed to be fun."

"Yeah, but the angst in the air is practically tangible. Someone needs to do SOMETHING before one of you turns into an emo and finds a corner to cut yourself in."

"Hey, I think the flashbomb's wearing off." Alphonse interrupted with a much needed subject change. "I can sorta see things again, but they're all blurry."

Sarah blinked. "Oh, hey! Yeah, I can too. I didn't even notice."

As good of news as this was, Kisa frowned. "This isn't good… either that flash bomb was a dud, or we've been walking longer than I thought."

"Well, let's get going then." Al said, looking over at her. She nodded and started forward again.

"I can't believe this- the trail just stops." Kisa said, looking around. "Where could he have gone, there's nothing here!"

Sarah put her hands on her hips, examining the ruins of Edgar's tower. "Maybe they levitated away?"

"Can't have. The trail would go up." Alphonse murmured, kneeling at the spot the crimson red aura vanished. "And all these other auras aren't helping any."

"Well, there isn't exactly anything we can do about them." Kisa said, kicking a rock and sending it skittering across the courtyard.

Sarah sighed and sat down. "Maybe we should just wait for the Psychonauts…" She suggested, hitting a nearby teddy bear.

Alphonse leapt back as the ground underneath him shifted down slightly. "What the…?" He looked over at his sister, who was sitting back with her eyes closed. "Sarah, do that again."

She opened her eyes and looked at him, confused. "Do what again?"

"The bear. Hit the bear." Sarah, confused though she was, hit the bear again. It tilted slightly, and the rocks slid back an inch or two, revealing… well, that there was something- most likely a tunnel- beneath them.

Kisa slapped her forehead. "Of course! That's why it goes down- there's a trapdoor." Raising her hand toward the bear, a violet, TK fist slammed it flat back against the ground. A square of rock slid away, revealing a black tunnel. Kisa walked over and peered down it. "Well, no where to go but down." She shrugged and, Thought Bubble appearing underneath her, jumped down.

Alphonse couldn't help grinning slightly. "She's completely insane… I am so in love with her." And with that, he followed.

Sarah groaned. "Why me? Guys, wait up!" She called, going after them.

"Well, great plan, you two." She added sarcastically when they reached solid ground again. "'Let's jump in the pitch black hole without thinking!' WONDERFUL idea."

"Alright, Sarah, we get it." Al sighed, exasperated with his sister's complaining. "But it's not like we can just clap our hands and turn the lights on." To demonstrate, he clapped his hands, and imagine his surprise when the lights did indeed turn on.

"Well, someone's certainly modernized this place." Kisa muttered, looking around.

"I wouldn't say modernized." Al muttered. "This room looks like it came right out of the seventeen-hundreds."

Sarah nodded. "But it's pretty. I mean, it looks like someone really put a lot of work into making look special."

"It looks familiar…" Kisa muttered, walking around the room. "I mean, I think I've seen this somewhere before." Her eyes roved over the room, falling on the wall-length mirror hanging on the wall.

Al and Sarah turned at the Aquato's sharp intake of breath. "Kisa?"

"It can't be…" The auburn-haired girl said, walking over to the mirror.

Alphonse walked up behind her. "Kisa, what is it?"

Kisa turned slowly to look over her shoulder at him. "This is Christine's room. From the Phantom of the Opera." She said softly, pushing on the mirror. It swung back as if on hinges.

Al's eyes widened. THAT'S why it looked familiar. He'd seen it in Kisa's dream. He blinked as Kisa stepped up onto the ledge of the hallway that had hidden behind the mirror. "Kisa, what are you doing?"

"Use your Clairvoyance. That weird aura goes this way." She said as though it was obvious. Which it kinda was.

Sarah raised a hand. "Um, can I say something? I was against coming here, and going down the hole, but this is going too far! Kisa, we don't know where this even leads to! There could be some psychopath waiting for us!"

"Well, would you rather stay here?" Kisa asked dryly. "Because I'm going. You can stay if you want. But I'll be down that hall, trying to figure out who the hell's living in an abandoned insane asylum and why they kidnapped our parents. But feel free to stay here." She said, turning and walking down the hall.

"Kisa!" The twins called, running after her. _'She's being a little manipulative.'_

_'Can you blame her, Sarah?'_ Al replied, slowing to a walk as he caught up with Kisa. "Kisa, hold on. Maybe we should think about this."

Kisa sighed. "Al, we don't have time to think about this. If we stop to think, then the Psychonauts'll get here and probably trigger something. We're three kids- practically invisible. This guy obviously doesn't see us as a threat, so we might as well get as far as we can before reinforcements arrive and he does something dangerous." She pulled her arm out of his hand and continued down the hall.

"Good job. Was that supposed to stop her?" Al glared at Sarah and just followed after Kisa.

It only took a few more moments for them to reach the end of the hall and reach yet another problem. "Well, that's not right." Sarah muttered. "I thought the hall behind Christine's mirror led down to the sewers."

Kisa kicked the solid wall in front of them. "Crap. I thought for sure this would work."

Alphonse, however, did not give up so easily. Closing his eyes, he splayed his hand across the wall. If one looked closely, a glowing navy eye opened in front of his forehead. Slowly, his hand traveled across the wall until a portion of the collapsed underneath his palm. He opened his eyes, blinking to clear them as dust flew up from the walls' retreat.

"Nice job, Al." Kisa said, coughing afterwards. "Little bit messy though."

He coughed, having gotten a face-full of the airborne dirt himself. "Sorry."

"Let's just go." Sarah sighed, pulling her T-shirt down from over her mouth. She ran a hand through her hair as she walked through the door. "Got dust in my hair, great…" She let out a gasp. "Oh. My. Freaking. God."

Kisa and Al ran after her and gasped as well. "What… what is this?" Al questioned, looking around the room.

The ceiling arched up, veiled in darkness so that the top was obscured. The dark violet pulse of Psitanium came from the room's center, where hundreds of separate veins ran through the rocky ground. Dozens of screens covered one of the concave walls, showing different scenes of the asylum grounds outside, all except one, which was black and had a broadcast camera perched on top of it.

'This must be how he transmitted into Ford's sanctuary.' Kisa thought, stepping toward the systems. Then a flash of blue caught her eye and she turned around. Her eyes grew to emerald plates and she shrieked. "Ember!"

Al and Sarah looked over at her as she ran over to the Pyrokinesis user who was chained against the wall. Al gasped. "Coach Oleander?"

"Stop standing there! Help me get her down!" Al and Sarah ran over.

Al put his fingers to his forehead. "Catch her, I'll blast her down." Kisa and Sarah moved beneath the nineteen year old, holding their arms out and catching her as Alphonse put a PSI bullet through the two chains holding her up.

"Ember?" Kisa asked, shaking the blue-haired psychic's shoulder. "Ember, it's Kisa."

Her eyes fluttered, but she didn't wake up. "Hey, what's this?" Sarah asked, pushing turquoise hair off of the back of Ember's neck.

Alphonse pushed past Kisa to examine it. "It… looks like it connects to a tube or IV of some kind…" He murmured, brushing his fingers over it. He pulled it back in a flash as it flashed red before falling to the ground with a metallic clatter.

"Ooohhh…" The teen psychic moaned, stirring. Sarah and Kisa quickly set her down.

"Ember?" Kisa asked again.

Her eyes fluttered open, squinting to focus on the girl's face. "Kisa? What… where…?" Her eyelids shot open suddenly, and she sat up like a bolt had hit her. "Where is that little bastard?!" She growled, looking around.

"There was no one here but you and the Coach." Sarah said, eyeing the Pyrotechnist nervously.

Ember looked around the room again, and then visibly relaxed. "Crap, we have to get out of here." She attempted to push herself to her feet, falling back with an 'ow.'

"Here, let us help." Kisa volunteered.

A moment later, Ember was on her knees, pushing herself up onto her feet. "Are you sure you're okay to stand?" Alphonse asked, taking in Ember's quaking form.

She stood up straight and, after a second, let go of the girls' shoulders. "Yeah, I'm cool. Now, let's get Coach Oleander and get out of here." The chains around the Coach's arms began melting before Ember had reached him, but an ash grey, telekinetic hand caught him before he hit the ground. Ember brought him over to the group, turning him over in the air. "How did you get this thing off of me?" She asked, pointing at the device on Coach Oleander's neck.

Al walked over and did the same as he did to Ember's. The device again flashed red before falling uselessly to the floor. "He's not waking up."

Ember frowned and flipped the coach over, putting a hand on his forehead. Closing her eyes, she sent a burst of psychic energy down her arm and straight into the Coach's brain. He jerked in her telepathy, and then let out a groan. She frowned as he still didn't wake up. "Crap, I thought for sure that would work. We'll have to figure out what to do later, now come on."

"We can't, our parents are still here!" Kisa whispered.

Al smiled over at her, putting a finger over his lips. "Don't worry. I've got a plan. Just follow Ember for now."

Kisa grimaced but followed after the blue-haired agent, her green eyes flickering from her to Alphonse and back. As soon as Ember had passed the point where the retractable wall was hiding, Al raised a hand. The wall slammed shut, making all three girls jump. From the other side, the three teenagers could hear Ember pounding on the wall. "Let's go before she figures out how to get past the wall."

"Al, how did you...?" Kisa started.

"I just used my telekinesis to push that spot on the wall I found earlier." He said simply, shrugging. "Let's see if we can find a way out of this room." Sarah and Kisa followed him over to the computers. They had barely made it over to the console when a door on the opposite side of the room opened wide, casting long shadows across the floor.

Sarah whimpered. "Can we get out of here now?"

"Somehow, I seriously doubt it." Alphonse replied, grabbing Kisa's hand. She squeezed it and looked over at him.

"Isn't there some saying about not going into the light?" She asked quietly, trying to make her tone playful but failing.

He, however, managed a wry grin, though it was shaky. "Well, we've done everything else we weren't supposed to. Might as well make it a habit." She nodded, following after him with Sarah behind them.

--  
SC: Okay, so it's really short for something that took me so long, but I've had serious writer's block and I'm finally managing to get over it. Sorry! Reviews are muchly appreciated!

Ja ne  
SC


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up.

--

Chapter 24

Mastermind

"Where are we?" Sarah asked, looking around the room. The domed, white ceiling arched high above their heads, and seemed to just radiate with light, as there were no lamps or other lights to be seen. There didn't appear to be anything else in the room; no furniture, no people, nothing. In fact, there didn't seem to be a floor, save for the fact that the three PSI Cadets could feel it underneath their feet.

"Welcome to my parlor!" A distorted voice called, the words reverberating around the room.

"Said the spider to the fly." Alphonse finished under his breath.

Kisa swallowed hard. She recognized that voice- it was the one that she had heard that day in Ford's sanctuary. Pushing aside her fear, she stepped forward. "Quit playing with us!" She demanded.

"But the game's just begun, Kisa." The voice laughed.

The look on the redhead's face showed how much it disturbed her to find out that… whoever it was remembered her name. "Where are our parents?!" Al growled, looking around and trying to find the voice.

"Alive. I'll tell you where if you play a game with me. I'm going to give you one chance to guess my name. I'll even be charitable enough to give you some hints. One of you knows me. One of you went to school with me. Oh, and my name isn't Rumplestiltzkin."

Kisa's heart was pounding in her chest. "Oh my god…"

"Ah, I do believe that our dear Kisa has figured it out."

Sarah and Alphonse turned toward her. "Kisa?"

She swallowed, the expression on her face terrified. "Jacob."

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" The voice called, the distortion gone. A figure suddenly became visible near the ceiling.

An older teenager, obviously two or three years older than the PSI Cadets, levitated down to the floor in front of them. Platinum blonde hair stood up in short spikes on his head, and ice blue eyes looked at them coldly. His pale complexion was further accented by his outfit- a black shirt and jeans underneath a floor length black leather trench coat. He clapped his gloved hands together sarcastically. "Very good, Kisa. It certainly took you long enough."

"How… I thought you were still in a coma!"

Jacob smirked. "Oh, that. Well, after a few minor setbacks, I managed to pull my shattered mind back together and come out of that nasty coma. Imagine my surprise when I found out a whole two years of my life had gone by. Wasted. All because of you."

"You were going to try and rape me!" Kisa accused, glaring at him.

"Not one of my better ideas, I'll admit." Jacob replied nonchalantly, as if the Aquato hadn't just accused him of a crime. "Still, I'm the one who wound up in the mental institution while you got off without a slap on the wrist to show for it. Guess it helps when your mommy and daddy come clean up after you."

"Kisa, what's he talking about?" Sarah asked.

Jacob threw his head back in laughter. "Oh, she didn't TELL you! That's good, that's just brilliant!" He lowered his head, smirking at the girl evilly. "Then again, if I had almost committed homicide at eleven, I wouldn't go spreading it around either."

"Where are our parents Jacob?" She asked coldly, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

He sighed. "Still so narrow minded… alright, fine. A deal's a deal." He waved his hand, and the four unconscious Psychonauts appeared on the wall behind them, chained up similarly to how Ember and Coach Oleander had been.

"What are you doing to them?!" Al demanded.

"I was hoping one of you would ask." Jacob said, grinning dementedly. "You see, as an… aftereffect, I suppose, of Kisa's rather brutal psychic fracturing of my mind, I have apparently gained a few abilities of my own. My mind has expanded so far that not even the greatest Psychonauts in the world stand a chance against it!" He laughed. "And, thanks to my newfound genius, I created this." He pulled out a vial of shining green liquid from his pocket. "It's a mixture of Psitanium and some rather unstable chemicals that, if used on their own, cause some rather fascinating hallucinations. But combined properly and, well, you get a potent solution that causes terrible nightmares. And in psychics, after a long enough exposure, _insanity_."

"That's impossible." Alphonse growled. "You can't just BECOME psychic."

"Ooh, you ARE clever. Definitely Sasha Nein's son. Well, as you've so pointed out, I did have a few latent abilities before my rather unpleasant hospital stay. However, they weren't exactly powerful, so I never utilized them. All except for one." He began tossing the vial in his hand up boredly and catching it, never taking his disconcerting gaze off the three in front of him. "I could control minds. Granted, I never used it for more than a little extortion when I didn't do my homework in time, until I met you, Kisa."

Her eyes widened. "When I lost control. It was you?!"

"Again, not one of my better plans. I had never experimented on a psychic before, and I didn't expect your powers to get the better of you. I've gotten smarter since then, and I won't make the same mistake."

Kisa took a step back, putting whatever reserve energy she had into buffing up her shields. Jacob chuckled. "Oh, don't worry Kisa. I'm not going to mess with your head. Well, not in the way you're thinking." And with a quick, smooth sweep of his arm, he tossed the green vial into the air, the ark aimed straight toward the three cadets. Who were smart enough to run in three separate directions. The tube shattered on the floor, the liquid inside turning into a misty, green vapor as it hit the air.

Jacob sighed. "Oh please. So predictable." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a strangely shaped mask made of a hard, brown plastic that covered his mouth and nose and slipped it onto his face. "You can't escape it." He called, levitating toward the ceiling. "It'll only keep spreading until I clear the room."

Alphonse looked over his shoulder at the gas and cursed rather loudly in German. Jacob was right; the gas just kept spreading and-

"Aiiieeee!" His head whipped up to see that Sarah had trapped herself against a wall, and had inhaled the gas in her panic.

"Sarah!" Al yelled, not realizing how close the gas had spread to him. He coughed violently as the green mist burned a path down his throat. His eyes rolled back in his head as he collapsed to the floor in a pile.

"Al!" Kisa screamed. She glared up at the laughing Jacob. Summoning her Thought Bubble, she bounced in the air and used her PSI Punch to smash a handhold in the wall.

"That's clever." Jacob said dryly. "But even you will lose your grip sometime, Kisa. And if I get too bored, I'll just break your wrist and make you fa-" Jacob was cut off as a telekinetic hand tossed a chunk of the wall toward the floating boy and he was forced to dodge.

Unfortunately- or fortunately, however you choose to look at it-, he dodged straight into a piece of the floor that had flown up at him. He toppled toward the ground, hitting it with a loud 'thunk.' Kisa looked down at him, clinging to her self-made handhold with shaking arms. She let out a scream of pain as a gold PSI Bullet hit her in the back, sending her toppling toward the ground, unconscious.

Jacob stood, gasping behind his mask, clutching his side. Limping, he made his way through the gas to the now-unconscious girl's side. The green mist swirled around her mouth and nose as she breathed, her body splayed awkwardly from impact with the ground.

His eyes narrowed into a glare. "Thought you could beat me with your feeble powers? Nice try, Kisa, but I'm still the stronger one here." He hissed. "I hope you enjoy your nightmares."

--

_'I am stronger than my fear. I am stronger than my fear.'_ That was the only coherent thought going through Alphonse Nein's mind. He rubbed his arms, looking around the disturbing emptiness that surrounded them. Normally, his mind was a rather large, very neat library with books of everything he'd ever seen- from billboards to the vampire book he stole from Sarah last week- categorized on its shelves. There were, of course, the stray memory vaults running around (not even Sasha could contain his), and the occasional figment, but those were usually quickly locked away in the closet labeled 'storage.'

Now, there wasn't… anything. And it was seriously creeping him out.

Actually, now that he thought about it, Al wasn't even sure what he was afraid of. He'd always come up with some scientific reason not to be afraid of… well, anything. Creepy, sure, he thought some things were creepy (spiders were on the top of that list), but scary?

He was drawing a blank. Haha, irony.

Sighing, he sat down, resting his head against his knees. "This sucks, this sucks, this really, really sucks." He smirked slightly. "At least it doesn't echo in here."

He sat there for what seemed like an eternity before colors started to speckle out of the grey. Alphonse leapt to his feet, preparing to fight.

What he saw instead was so much worse.

His parents, Raz, Lili, Kisa, and Sarah were fighting Jacob... and losing. He yelled out in fear as his mother was set aflame, her screams of terror and pain piercing every inch of his mind. "Mom!" He tried to run to help her, but his feet wouldn't move. He looked down to see that up to his calves had been consumed by stone. His eyes widened, and his head jerked up at another scream to see Sarah torn in half at her waist.

"No!" He yelled, trying to shoot a PSI Blast. Nothing came. He was completely useless. A gold PSI Bullet tore through Kisa's chest, sending her flying back so she was only a few feet away from him. Her eyes held an expression of betrayal as she looked up at him.

"Al... why...?" She didn't manage any more as her eyes turned glassy.

"Yes, _Al_. Why? You're letting everyone down with your uselessness, and now they're all going to die." Jacob laughed.

Tears fell down his face as he looked back up to see that Raz had fallen to the ground, his head snapped almost 180 degrees on his neck. Only Sasha was left standing.

_"I've never been more proud of you, Alphonse."_ Those words rang through his head as he watched his father futilely attack Jacob. The blonde laughed, and a gold hand wrapped around Sasha's middle.

Alphonse growled. "No!" He yelled. The stone on his legs shattered, and he ran forward, sending a chain of unstopping PSI Blasts toward Jacob. All of them hit dead-on, and he fell to the ground, dropping Sasha. Before the boy could get to his father's side and see if he was alright, the grey underneath his feet turned into the carpeted floors of his library. Bookshelves sprang up, and when Alphonse stopped to look around, his mind was just as it was supposed to be.

"What... just..." He started, turning as though he didn't believe what he was seeing. "I beat my nightmares." He said awedly. He grinned and punched the air. "Woohoo! Yes! I won!" His cheering abruptly stopped. "Celebrate later, Alphonse." He scolded himself. Running up to the second level of the library, he walked over to his Teleport Bug. "The Collective Unconscious." He said. The bug promptly swallowed him in its bubble, and Alphonse found himself in the Collective Unconscious. He looked around at all the doors. Deciding to use a shortcut instead of searching, he turned to the door behind him and put a hand on the knob.

"Sarah's mind." He said. The door turned from navy blue to pink and Alphonse turned the handle. The door stuck for a moment, but then opened and Alphonse stepped inside.

He looked around. His sister's mind seemed to be in the same state his had been; nothing but grey. "Sarah?" He called experimentally.

There wasn't a reply. 'She could be anywhere.' He thought to himself, worried. 'Lost in her own min- wait, what was that?'

He concentrated, and a small sob reached his ears. "Help... somebody, please..."

His eyes widened. Sarah! He started running. It didn't take long to find her, and Alphonse suddenly remembered what Sarah was afraid of-

Sarah Nein was claustrophobic. And though he couldn't actually see her, he could see a rather small box that only came up to his waist with a padlocked chain wrapped around it like a ribbon. The sobs and pleas for help were coming from inside it. "Sarah?" Al called, kneeling next to the box.

"Al? Is that you?"

He let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it's me sis."

"Get me out of here!"

He took a step back and, with barely a thought, sent a PSI Bullet at the box...

... which shrunk slightly. Oops.

Sarah started crying again, and he could hear her start to hyperventilate. "Sarah! Listen to me." He ordered. "This is your mind; you have to take control of it again."

"I-I c-c-can't!" She wailed. "I'm t-t-t-too scared!"

Al jumped slightly as he heard a 'crack'. Looking down, he saw red cracks forming from under the box- small ones. He had to calm Sarah down, and fast- otherwise he might not be able to get her back. Groaning inwardly, he realized what the only thing was that would calm her down right now.

Sarah quieted slightly as she heard Alphonse start talking again- no, wait. He wasn't talking; he was _singing_. "_Free from the torment of sin, all this I'm giving up much as the sun would decide to give in exploding to orange and hear all the voices sing praises with hymns, mark the birth of a change, free from the torment of sin, all this I'm giving up. It's not me, buried wreckage my soul. It's not me so who am I now._" Al smiled slightly as Sarah's voice tentatively joined his at 'who am I now.' "Better?"

"Yeah." Sarah sniffed. Al looked down to see the cracks radiate light blue before sealing completely. The chains around the box fell to the ground, clanking in protest, and the box fell open. Sarah looked around as her mind changed from the grey abyss back to its usual state- a busy, chaotic hospital bordering on copyright infringement.

"Where's your nearest teleport bug?" Alphonse asked quickly.

Sarah paused to think. "The cafeteria."

"Lead the way." Sarah nodded and got to her feet, and the two Nein twins made their way through the halls.

--

SC: Okay, so that was a little better than I'd expected this to turn out. And if anyone's confused, Al is afraid of being useless and letting everyone down (or having them die) because of it. And Sarah's mind is like that because she is an uber "Scrubs" fan, like my best friend whom I based her off of. Hence, the copyright infringement thing. Anyway, read and review please!

Ja ne

SC


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up.

--

Chapter 25

Playing Games

Alphonse grunted as he tugged on the handle of the door to his father's mind. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, he gave up, leaving the door alone. "Anything?" He asked turning to his sister, then cocking an eyebrow. Sarah was not only pulling on the door, but she had her feet pressed up against the wood in a very cartoon-like fashion. "Sarah?"

The girl let out a shriek and lost her grip, falling onto the steps leading to Milla's door. She glared at it and kicked it in frustration. "Stupid door!"

"Mom's too?" He asked in disbelief. Sarah nodded. He paused, tapping his chin. "I have an idea." He pulled her up and put both their hands on the doorknob. "On three. One..."

"Two..." Sarah said, her arm tensing.

"Three!" Both of the Nein twins pulled as hard as they could, and their mother's door flew open. They ran inside and were faced with a very unpleasant scene.

Milla Vodello's party was _on fire_. Literally.

Sarah gasped and said a few words in Spanish that her mother would have rinsed her mouth out with soap for. "Mama!" She cried, running into the mess.

"Sarah, don't!" Al cried, rushing after, intending to stop her. He cringed away from the horrifying sights surrounding him. The bouncer that normally guarded the inner recesses of Milla's mind had been turned into ash, and all that was left was a smoldering pile of metal. He bounced across it, wincing at how close his thought bubble came to the flickering embers, and looked for Sarah in the next room.

By some force of luck, the trampolines were still in one piece, and Sarah had bounced up them to the second floor. "Sarah!" She turned to see Alphonse land behind her (having used the much faster kickback to get up to her level).

"Don't lecture me right now, Al." Sarah growled. "We have to find mama!"

He held up his hands in defense. "I'm not here to lecture you, sis. And you're right, we have to find mom. But we can't just rush in here like…" He paused, peering at something behind Sarah. She frowned, then turned to see what he was staring at, and her eyes widened.

The bright blue door that housed Milla's nightmare room was wide open. "Do you think she's…?"

"I don't think she'd be anywhere else. Let me check it out first, just in case." Alphonse murmured, summoning up his thought bubble again and bouncing over toward the platform. He landed on it easily.

"Is she in there?" Sarah called.

Al turned around and with a stunned look on his face. "You have got to see this."

Not a moment later, Sarah landed beside him. "So, what did I need to se- oh my god." She gasped, looking inside the small classroom/nursery.

Milla Vodello laid in the middle of the room, surrounded by the ghostly grey figments of over a dozen children. Three or four were sitting atop the toy box in the corner, while the rest stood over their 'matron' protectively. They all looked up as the two Nein children walked into the room, clearing a path for them to their mother. "Mama?" Sarah asked quietly as she reached Milla's side.

Milla moaned lightly and her eyelids fluttered open. "Ayiyiyiyi… ooh, my head." She blinked slightly, her eyes focusing on her two children standing above her. "Sarah? Alphonse? Darlings, what are you doing here?"

Al bit his lip. "Yeah, um, about that mom…"

Milla smacked her forehead lightly. "Alphonse, sweetie, you didn't…"

"Can we talk about this later?" He asked. "You need to see this." He and Sarah helped Milla to her feet and led her to the door. Milla gasped, then turned toward the toy box.

"Scoot!" She ordered, and the ghost kids drifted off of it. She peered inside, then groaned. "Oh no…"

"Mama?" Sarah asked, stepping toward her mother. Milla took a deep breath, then turned toward her children.

"Sarah, Alphonse, I need the two of you to go and wait for me in the Collective Unconscious, okay? It's going to get a little messy in here."

They both nodded and walked over to the Teleport Bug that had scuttled into the room for safety.

--

"She's taking too long." Sarah worried, biting her lip. "Maybe we should-"

"It's only been a few minutes." Alphonse said, stopping her from going toward the door. "She's fighting back her nightmares. It's gonna take-" Both of them looked up as the pink door opened and Milla stepped out, looking fairly exhausted but no worse for the wear otherwise.

"Mom? Are you okay?" Sarah asked.

Milla managed to smile warmly at her children. "Yes, thanks to you two. How long was I in there?"

Alphonse did some quick calculations in his head. "A little over a day, I think."

Milla paused, looking at the two of them suspiciously. "How did the two of you get here?" Sarah and Al looked over at each other. Milla crossed her arms. "Well?"

"Kisa…"

"Kisa's here too?"

"Uh-huh." Sarah said.

Milla sighed. "Go on."

"Kisa… kinda… _took_ Grand Head Zanotto's jet and we flew here." Al supplied meekly. Milla blinked.

"_What_?" Milla held her hands up, shaking her head. "We'll talk about this later. Fill me in on what's going on now." Alphonse quickly summed up what had happened (leaving out the part about sneaking away from Whispering Rock) in the last few hours.

Milla closed her eyes. "Ayiyi… this is worse than I thought. Alright, you two. Until we can find a way to free your father, Lili, and Razputin, I want you two to get out of here and find Kisa."

"What?"

"But mom!"

Milla held up a hand. "No buts." She knelt down. "This is important, alright? Kisa may be in some real danger here. The two of you need to find her and get her out of here."

Alphonse and Sarah nodded meekly. "Yes ma'am."

Milla had no idea how right she was.

--

Jacob chuckled as he looked down on his unconscious captive. Kisa was dangling above the grounds, her hands tied with Psitanium laced chains over her head, which were attached to the ceiling. Beneath her feet, and a clear, glass floor, was a deep pool of water which lapped against its glass covering. Even unconscious, the Aquato squirmed slightly. "I'd hoped that you and your friends would put up a little more of a fight, Kisa." Jacob sighed. "Oh well. The mere fact that they beat my gas is amazing in itself, I suppose. The real fun will begin once the Psychonauts arrive." He leant close to her face. "You see, I've made enough of that fear gas to infect every psychic in the world. And once I do that, well, I think you know what I'm going to do, don't you?" He smirked. "I'm going to destroy everything that ever stood in my way, starting with the Psychonauts. I may even give you the antidote long enough to watch me kill your parents and grandfather. How does that sound?"

Jacob looked up as an alarm sounded from a nearby console. He walked up the stairs to the steel platform and hit a button. An image of Sarah and Alphonse weaving through the maze-like corridors of the underground appeared on the screen. "Farther than I thought." He mused. "Now, will you listen to your mother and come to save Kisa, or will you be unable to resist helping out your father and teachers first?" He chuckled, tapping a few buttons. The other screens were filled with the images of Lili, Raz, and Sasha. "Hm… well, family first, I suppose." He chuckled, hitting another button.

--

"This place is like a maze!" Sarah groaned.

Al nodded in agreement. "If we'd just gotten to stay in the Collective Unconscious, maybe we could've gotten to Kisa's mind that way."

Sarah cocked an eyebrow, stopping. "We've never been to Kisa's mind."

Al bit his lip, slowing to a halt. "Well… you haven't."

"Alphonse Nein! I am shocked! And appalled, and… and out of cool sounding synonyms, but you get my point."

Al growled slightly, annoyed. "Can we please talk about this later? We're supposed to be…" He stopped abruptly as the wall he was standing in front of slid away. He closed his eyes. "Sarah… what's behind me?"

"Dad." He turned around, staring. An arm shot out to prevent his sister from moving as she tried to walk past him. "Al!"

"It's a trap." He said. "Look, mom will take care of dad. She told us to find Kisa."

"Fine. You go find Kisa, I'll go and help mom." She shoved past him, pulling out her Psycho Portal and tossing it onto Sasha's forehead.

"Sarah!" He yelled, reaching a hand out. But it was too late- she had already slumped over on the floor. He hesitated- leaving Sarah's body there was no doubt more dangerous than letting her go in.

Sister, girlfriend, sister, girlfriend…

_"Why are you still standing there?!"_ Al jumped as Sarah's voice rang through his skull. _"I'll be fine; I've got things covered with dad… sort of. Go find Kisa already!"_

He shook his head, growling. "Alright, alright! I'm going!" He yelled back, running off.

--

Jacob frowned. "Hm. Well, that didn't go as planned. I could do with some entertainment though." He smirked. "Alright, Alphonse Nein. Let's see just how much you can do." He closed his eyes, concentrating.

--

'Oh man, I am so lost!' Al groaned to himself, turning down another hallway. 'How am I supposed to find anything in this place?' He nearly tripped over himself as a wall shot up in front of him. "Oookay… not that way." He said, backing up. A 'whoosh' of wind behind him blew his hair and shirt up, and he turned to see another wall that hadn't been there five seconds ago. He glared up at the ceiling. He felt like screaming something along the lines of, _ 'Fine, I get it, go THIS way!' _but instead turned down the only open pathway left (ironically enough, to his left).

Finally, this hall ended as well, with a rather large door. Alphonse pushed on it, straining with effort, until it finally creaked open. A flash of light blinded Al for a moment, but when his eyes cleared, he gasped. "Kisa!"

--

I looked around dad's mind and sighed. "I'm a horrible liar… I don't even know where to start." I sat down on the floating piece of cube that I'd poofed in on. I say 'piece of cube' because… well… Sasha Nein's cube seemed to have all but exploded, sending the pieces scattered about his mind. Which couldn't be a good thing, as the cube is my father's MIND(!), and was supposed to be in one piece, last I checked.

After a moment of sulking, I stood up again and cupped my hands around my mouth. "Dad!" I called into the void, right before I smacked my forehead. "Oh yes, brilliant, Sarah. He's really going to answer you right now." I muttered, hopping to a nearby floating cube-piece. "At least there aren't any censors now."

Several hops later, I spotted something that would hopefully be useful. A much smaller version of what used to be the cube… maybe just big enough for someone (like, oh, say, my dad) to be on? I glanced around. There didn't seem to be any clear path over there… or any path over there at all. "Please, please, PLEASE let this work." I begged, propelling off the cube fragment I was standing on and into the air. When I didn't fall, I let out a sigh of relief and moved toward the larger piece of my dad's mind.

What I saw was not pleasant.

Three nightmares were hunched over Sasha, claws dug into his body. "Hey!" I yelled, sprinting toward my father. "Get away from him!" The nightmares looked up, and I froze. Probably not the smartest idea I've ever had, but I was just so surprised. The nightmares had the faces of me, Al, and my mom. Only… only they were covered in what looked like the chicken pox. My dad was afraid of…

Wait a second. Pox? My eyes widened. _Smallpox_! My grandma had died of it when dad was just a baby! He was afraid of us getting sick and dying like grandma!

Well, THAT certainly made more sense.

But back to the nightmares feeding off my dad's sanity. I blasted them away and ran over to him. "Dad? Dad, can you hear me?"

I felt myself actually, physically relax when he groaned, and his head rose. "Sarah?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's me." I helped him sit up.

He grimaced. "Ach, my head."

"Are you okay?" I asked. My father glanced over at the three nightmares, who seemed to be recovering.

"I will be in a moment." He said, levitating to his feet. Pulling me to his side with one hand, he put the other against his forehead. I shrieked and grabbed onto his sweater as the nightmares lunged toward us, only to bounce off a rather painful looking shield. "Sarah, close your eyes."

I nodded and buried my face in his shirt. There was a rather loud rumbling sound, and the nightmares shrieked in pain before everything went silent. I felt my dad smoothing my hair down. "It's alright now, Sarah. You can look."

I pulled my face out of his shirt and looked around. The cube was back to normal- no nightmares in sight. I let out a sigh of relief, until I heard my father clear his throat. Slowly, I looked up at him. He did not look happy. "I have some explaining to do, don't I?"

--

SC: Okay, apologies all around. I've been in a weird mood lately, and it didn't involve Psychonauts. But, I think I'm back on track with my fanfictions now, so I should be able to update fairly soon. That, and I'm in Michigan for the summer, and basically have an unlimited amount of time to type. Anyway, I'm really sorry, and would really appreciate reviews.

Ja ne  
SC


	26. Chapter 26

SC: I'm really testing the limits of my 'T' rating here, there's quite a bit of foul language in this chapter as teenage boys are potty mouths.

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up.

--

Chapter 26

Playing Games, part 2

"- and so now I'm explaining everything to you." I rushed as me and dad sat on the floor in what used to be his cell. The door had been blasted off its hinges, so now it was just a room with no door.

My dad rubbed his temples. "Sarah. Maria. Nein." Uh-oh. He used my full name- I was in SO much trouble. "What were you _thinking_?!"

"Well, to be fair, it wasn't my idea. It was Kisa's." He was not amused. "I didn't want to come!"

He sighed. "We'll discuss this later, when it will not be so dangerous." I nodded, following him back into the hallway.

We moved in silence for a while, until I couldn't take it anymore. "Um, daddy?" His head turned slightly to acknowledge he was listening. "Mama said something about Kisa being in real trouble with that Jacob guy… and he said something about Kisa nearly…" I couldn't force myself to say it.

My father sighed. "It… it's a long story, Sarah. Maybe it would be best for Kisa to tell you."

"Dad, I might not be able to see Kisa for her to tell me!" I protested. "I want to know what we're up against!"

"Jacob was a boy in Kisa's theater department." He finally said. "Apparently, he had been spreading rumors about the two of them, and Kisa confronted him about it. When he tried to blackmail her with information about Razputin and Lili, she attacked, but so did he. When he attempted to use his power of mind control, it backfired and Kisa's mind went into a sort of overdrive. Her powers blew out of control… until she accidentally shot Jacob with a charged PSI-Blast. It fractured his mind into pieces… the damage was too great for even the best of the Psychonauts's medics to fix." He frowned. "We believed that it would be impossible for him to recover."

"Well, so much for that theory." I muttered. I paused. "Hey, dad… when we were fighting Jacob, I noticed something. His aura was gold, except the one we used to track him was red. That's, you know, not normal, right?" My father had stopped dead in his tracks.

"No, Sarah. That is most definitely not normal."

--

"Kisa!" Al's panicked voice echoed in the large room, bouncing off the metal walls wildly and filling the room with noise.

"I see that they hadn't gotten around to teaching you subtlety in that ridiculous camp." Jacob drawled from his platform high above the floor.

Al growled, his fists tightening. "Let her go!"

Jacob smirked. "You may want to reconsider that demand." He said, pointing down to the floor beneath the captured teen's feet. Alphonse looked down, then paled when he saw the plate of glass separating Kisa's feet from a pool of murky water. "See, I know about Kisa's little… 'problem' too, Alphonse. And I figured that as much _shit_ as she put me through, a little payback was justified." He laughed. "I'm amazed that she even functioned at that quaint little camp, what with a rather large lake not even a walk away from her at all times."

Al's teeth clenched, and even through the leather gloves, he could feel his nails practically draw blood from his palms. "_Justified_?! You tried to blackmail her into dating you, tried to psychically force her to have sex with you, and then blasted yourself in the face when you couldn't control her! And you call this _justice_?!" He demanded, his aura growing with his anger. "You're _beyond_ insane! You're just fucking twisted." He spat.

Jacob quirked an eyebrow. "You know, you really ought to get your aura under control. I mean, what would your father think?"

That right there would be the last straw, for those who couldn't tell.

Alphonse choked back a roar as he leapt into the air, flying toward Jacob faster than he could react, and consequently tackling them both off his rather menacing platform. They bounced away from each other as they hit the floor, both groaning in pain. Al recovered first, having used Jacob as a makeshift beanbag, stumbling to his feet and pinching his bleeding nose shut.

"Oh, well _that_ was brilliant." Jacob groaned, levitating up from his position on his back. "You know, you could've easily done the same thing with telekinesis? Allow me to demonstrate!" A golden hand wrapped around Alphonse and slammed him into the floor again. "You see?"

"Yeah, I think I got it." Al growled, his shield taking just less than enough of the blow to make his head spin. "Like this?" Jacob let out a gasp of pain as his ribs were squeezed like they were caught in a vice. The hand pinning Al down disappeared, and he scrambled up. A PSI Bullet hit him in the shoulder and he was sent spinning down again, losing his concentration and allowing Jacob the freedom to breathe again.

"You little _bastard_." He gasped, clutching his side with one arm while using the other to steady himself against the wall. "You goddamned son of a _bit-_" He was rather rudely cut off as Alphonse slammed him into the wall.

"One: I know who my dad is, dumbass. Two, you do _not_ talk about my mom like that if you want to keep your vocal cords." He growled, wiping the blood off his face on his sleeve. He froze as he realized that Jacob's aura had taken on a decidedly orange tint, and was turning redder by the second. "Okay, you know what? I lied- you _are_ batshit crazy."

Jacob grinned, the smile splitting his face like the he was the Chesire Cat, his eyes taking on a more murderous gleam the darker his aura became. Alphonse had time to take a single step back and think '_hoshit, I'm in trouble_' before Jacob's aura seemed to simply explode from his body, sending him flying backwards.

"Ow." He groaned, trying to pull himself out of the pile of rubble that had fallen on him. The air was forced out of his lungs as a clawed, crimson hand forced him back down.

"No, you stay there." Jacob laughed, levitating back up to his platform. "I want you to watch this." He leered as he pulled a lever on the control console. Alphonse watched as the glass beneath Kisa slid away, leaving several feet of air as the only thing separating the Aquato from a cursed death in the water.

"No- nngh!" He groaned as the hand pushed harder against his chest.

Jacob sighed remorsefully. "I had so hoped to save the best for last… of course, I also didn't expect you to get this far. Ah well… c'est la vie." He grinned maniacally as he slammed his fist down on a large button labeled 'release.' The chain holding Kisa in the air immediately began to plummet, sending her falling toward the water like a rock.

This devastating fall was stopped, however, when a blue PSI Bullet rather shattered the pulley, forcing the chain to coil upon itself and jerk to a stop, just as the toes of Kisa's sneakers dipped into the water.

"The hell?" Jacob cursed, slamming his fist down on the button again. The machine groaned and the chain twitched slightly, but there was no other movement. "You broke it, you-"

There was loud crack as Alphonse's fist made connection with Jacob's nose. "You know, I just realized something." He said, his aura whirling around him like a blue storm. "You are, admittedly, stronger than I am psychically. Crazy as a sack of rabid badgers, but stronger. I, however, have taken great care over the years to train my mind _and _body." Al grinned. "You've been lying bed for the past two years."

Jacob's eyes widened, still clutching his nose, then choked as Al's foot dug into his stomach. "You kidnap my parents," Kick, "You drug my sister," Another, to the ribs, "You try to _drown_ my girlfriend," A telekinetic hand brings Jacob to eye level, "And you're a complete asshole. And, while I doubt you have one worth hearing, I'd like to hear one good excuse for me _not_ to beat you unconscious and throw you into that water yourself."

Jacob blinked several times, and Alphonse noticed that his eyes were… lighter, softer, and that his aura was lightening as well, from crimson to pink to a surprisingly pure shade of white. "Okay, what the hell?"

"Um… hi?" Jacob offered weakly. "I'm sure this must be a little awkward, but would you mind putting me down?"

Alphonse gave him a 'you're joking, right?' look. "Uh, how about not?"

"Okay, understandable." Jacob conceded. "Mind if I explain?"

"Honestly, I would prefer it at this point."

Jacob took a deep breath. "Okay, so, you know how I have all those fun, mind-controlling powers? Well, I didn't always have them, they kind of just came out of nowhere, about the same time as… as well, _he_ did."

Al put his free hand over his eyes. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but… who's 'he'?"

"Um, the golden aura. You may have noticed, but I'm a little schizophrenic."

"That would explain the auras."

"Yeah, so, he kinda… bullied me out of the way and took over everything, turned me into a bit of a jerk." Alphonse quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, he turned me into a jackass. Anyway, when Kisa… broke me, I guess, I managed to pull back together, except now there were _more_, namely that red one, the homicidal maniac."

"Also noticed."

"By the way, I am _really _sorry." He added. "But, um, yeah, I'm the real Jacob, or at least the original one… I think… maybe just the conscience? Point is, I haven't been out in a _long_ time. You must've beat the other ones down so bad that they just passed out, and I was the only one left."

Alphonse gave the kid a once over. "Okay, I don't think you're lying to me, so I'm gonna put you down now." The blue hand released the boy, letting him stand.

"Thanks." He touched his nose gingerly. "You really did a number on me."

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." Al apologized a bit awkwardly.

"No need. Homicidal maniac personality." Jacob waved it off. "It's cool."

It was a bit disturbing to Al how casually he blew this all off. "O… kay?" He paused. "Uh, how long, exactly, are they gonna stay out?"

Jacob paused. "I… don't know." He admitted sheepishly. "I've never known them to _be _knocked out…"

"Great." Al looked over his shoulder at Kisa. "Listen, Jacob, you wouldn't happen to have an antidote to that nightmare serum stuff, would you?"

Jacob looked around. "Yeah… somewhere…" He muttered, running his hands over the control panel. A small square of the metal compressed under his hand, and a section popped out of the base. "There it is." He pulled out a small vial, then grimaced. "Guess I didn't make much." He said, handing it to Alphonse. "That should be enough to fix Kisa."

"Thanks." Al said, floating down to the main floor. He jumped as the glass plating slid back out to its original position, barely missing Kisa's dangling feet. Al walked out to her, undoing the chains holding her up and lowering her to the floor. Adjusting her so that she was lying in his lap, he pulled the stopper out of the vial and poured the contents into Kisa's mouth, tilting her head back so it would go down her throat. When there was no reaction after a few seconds, Al looked back at Jacob.

"Just give it a minute!" He called, his head tilted back and his nose pinched shut.

Two minutes passed before Kisa stirred in Al's arms. Her green eyes opened sleepily, still clouded from the serum. "Unh… Al? Wha's goin' on?"

Al grinned and squeezed the hand he was holding. "Welcome back to the land of the waking." He said, sitting her up. "How do you feel?"

She shook her head, cradling it in her hands. "Dizzy… kind of sick…" She blinked and spread her legs apart a bit. "Why am I sitting on top of an aquarium?" Al levitated them both to solid ground.

"Better?"

She nodded. "Yeah, much." Her eyes drifted up to see Jacob looking down at them, and she froze, grabbing onto Al's shirt.

"No, no. He's okay." Al assured her. "Schizophrenic to the third degree, but this is the good personality."

Kisa's eyebrows shot up, but she didn't question it. "Okay then."

Jacob was busy flipping through screens on several TV monitors. "Hey, I think your parents are all getting loose. Your sister's pretty kick ass…" He rubbed his temples lightly.

"You okay?" Al called, helping Kisa stand.

"Yeah, I thi-" He hissed under his breath. "Ah, fuck!"

"Jacob?"

"Can't talk. Power struggle." He spat through gritted teeth, staggering backwards and hitting the railing of the platform. Al and Kisa watched as his aura shifted through colors- white, gold, red, and all their in-betweens before Jacob let out a choked cry of pain and threw himself over the railing, landing stomach-down on the ground with a 'thud' and an underlying 'snap,' as though something had broken.

Kisa was still holding Al's arm as they edged closer. "Is he…?"

"No, he's alive." Al said. "His aura's still there, and he's breathing." Jacob's aura began switching between colors even faster, more adding into the mix as seconds ticked by, until it was a dark, inky black.

"That… can't be good." Kisa observed.

The doors behind them slammed open as Sarah ran in, a now fully awake and nightmare free Sasha, Milla, Raz, and Lili behind her.

"Kisa!"

"Alphonse!"

The two teens felt a surge a joy, which died as a hand wrapped around each of their ankles, making them look back at Jacob and his now fully black eyes.

They both knew it was over the moment they saw his eyes- their unfathomable depth pulled at their psyches, ripping them out of their bodies, which collapsed like puppets whose strings had been suddenly cut.

The last thing the other five psychics in the room heard was a surprised scream that echoed in their minds before all was silent.

--

SC: Wow. I just wrote this _entire chapter_ in about an hour. I really need to get off my high horse and just sit down with a computer and start writing a lot more. This would have been finished sooner, by the way, if I hadn't suddenly become obsessed with a certain Mr. Henson's 'Labyrinth' movie. However, I _will_ finish at least one of my current fics before I start venturing into another subject.

Or, at least, I'll try. So, um, for those of you who are still faithful (there can't be many, god it's been so long since I've updated anything...), reviews, however critical, will be appreciated.

Ja ne  
SpontaneousCombustion


	27. Chapter 27

SC: Okay, so Jocelyn (the friend who has been bugging me to update this damn story since it's my fault she got hooked on Psychonauts) doesn't kill me for not updating after that last chapter, here's the next one! Less cursing, I swear.

Disclaimer: SpontaneousCombustion does not own Psychonauts or any of its characters, just the ones she made up, nor does she own anything from Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. Those belong to Lewis Carroll.

Chapter 27

This Is an Example of a Serious Mind F**k

"What just happened?" Kisa asked as I helped her stand.

"Well… we either just got pulled into Jacob's mind, or down the damn rabbit hole. See a rabbit with a pocket watch anywhere?" I replied dryly.

Kisa punched me in the shoulder. "Funny. But… how'd he pull us in? He didn't have a psycho-portal or anything."

"I'd say it has something to do with whatever that black aura was." I responded, looking around.

"Everything looks so," Kisa hesitated, her voice quiet and wavering behind me, "Broken."

I turned around and put my hands on her shoulders. "Kisa, this isn't your fault."

She looked past me, at Jacob's fractured psyche. "Yes it is. Partially, at least. I wanted Jacob hurt and now look at him." She said, making a wide sweeping gesture with her arm at the mental landscape around us. Jacob's mind had been pulled back together like some kind of demented puzzle, with mismatched and missing pieces as far as I could see.

Knowing I wasn't going to get much farther in this battle, I changed the topic. "This certainly explains things, in any case." I said, taking a step back and looking around myself. "His multiple personalities could have come from any number of these missing pieces.

Kisa frowned. "Which means… what, exactly? That there could be more than the ones we saw?"

I suddenly realized how deep we could be in it. "It's very likely." I admitted, not able to keep my nerves out of my voice.

Now, Kisa looked nervous. "How many more?"

"Well, it's impossible to say, really. I mean, the facets of the human personality are so versatile-"

"Al!"

I sighed. "One or two…"

Kisa looked relieved. "Oh, well, that's not too bad, right?"

"Or it could be somewhere in the hundreds." I finished. Her jaw dropped slightly.

"You aren't that unlucky." We both jumped a little as Jacob appeared next to us, dressed all in white. "There's only eleven, if you count me."

"You're the original, aren't you?" I questioned, recognizing the easy tone and all-around niceness he exuded. "The real Jacob."

"That'd b me." He said. "Nice to see you again." He glanced over at Kisa. "And, uh, I guess we never really met." He said apologetically.

"I guess not."

Jacob blinked and looked around suddenly. "We need to get somewhere safer, follow me." He ordered, turning and hopping over the fragments of his mind like stepping stones. Kisa and I looked over at each other, both wondering what he meant by 'safer,' before following him to another patch of solid, put together ground.

"Where are we going, exactly?" I questioned as we trekked through some rather warped and decaying looking scenery.

"The last safe and sane place in my mind." Jacob replied quickly and quietly, speeding up his pace slightly. "And we need to stay quiet through here. This is Wrath's territory."

I almost asked him what he meant, but kept my mouth shut and looked around instead. It took me a moment to realize that everything here, from the trees to the dirt to the sky, had the same aura of hateful red that Jacob had possessed when he was wailing on me in the real world.

If the missing facets of Jacob's personality had actually claimed territory in his mind, this was much worse than I thought.

The scenery changed abruptly, and I had to blink to reorient myself. "All right, this is it. We'll be safe here." The burning landscape had given way to a thriving zone of white. There were small splotches of color everywhere- a deep blue pond surrounded by bright pink and yellow flowers. A silver-grey path led up to a small castle of the same color, and the sky here was blue.

"The auras here all blend." Kisa said, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. Some of my personalities just want things to go back to normal." Jacob explained, sounding a little sad. "We mesh here. We're good. Come on, we can sit down and talk inside." He said, leading us up the path.

One of the castle's large doors creaked open. "Wh- who's there?"

"It's me." Jacob said. "I brought some friends."

There was the slam as the door crashed open and a pink blur rushed out and latched onto Jacob. "Yay! You're back!"

"Happy, get off me, please. You're embarrassing me." Jacob muttered, pushing at the pink thing's arms.

'Happy' giggled and bounced back. "Haaa, sorry." He giggled. I blinked. It was another Jacob… only pink.

"Ooh, hey! I remember you!" He said, jumping over to Kisa. "Kisa! I was out a lot when you were around."

"Down boy." Jacob said, yanking on his shirt. "Sorry. He's a little… enthusiastic."

"I noticed." Kisa said with a teasing grin.

Jacob coughed slightly, blushing a bit. "So, yeah, let's just… inside, shall we?" He asked, ducking through the doors.

"You know, I actually remember him acting like that when he got embarrassed." Kisa mused before following after him. I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be jealous or not and went inside.

If there was one thing to be said about Jacob, it was that he had taste. "Nice." Kisa said, sitting down on a very cushiony looking chair. "Hamlet?"

Jacob grinned. "Yeah, you remembered. You made a very convincing Ophelia."

"I'm good at crazy." She laughed, then caught sight of me, standing awkwardly by the door. "But we're not here to reminisce about bad middle school plays. How bad is it, Jake?"

"Pretty bad." He said, resting his forehead against his fingers. "I've lost most of my mind. You saw Wrath's little chunk of insanity. Envy and Greed sort of just merged together during the split and got out of hand. You wanna talk about two-faced…" Jacob shook his head. "Then there's Sloth. I don't think he's really evil, just really lazy and sorta depressing. I don't actually worry about him much. And, uh, you met Pride earlier, the golden boy."

I tensed. "Don't tell me all seven sins have-"

"No, no. Thank god. I don't seem to have Gluttony anywhere- then again, that may have just merged with Green and Envy." He added as an afterthought. "Other than that, there's, well…" He glanced up at Kisa through his bangs, blushing.

"Lust." She supplied for him.

"Yeah. I'm secretly apparently quite the playboy." He muttered.

I cleared my throat to end the silence. "That's five. You said nine, other than you?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Um, yeah. You guys have seen that I have some backup. You met Happiness earlier," He said, motioning to the giggly smiley pink version of himself. I had to question that, honestly. "Sorrow's around here somewhere, with Patience and Cowardice." He sighed. "I've got to be honest with you, though," He said, raising his head. I know that he was talking to both of us, but the fact that he was looking directly at Kisa made me mad, "I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. I've been losing what's left of my sanity in… chunks. They're too strong. Pretty soon, they're just going to wipe me out and take over everything."

"Then fight back." Kisa said. "It's your mind, Jake. Just take it back."

"It's not that easy, Kisa." I murmured, touching her shoulder.

She looked back at me. "I know, Al. My parents are Psychonauts too, remember? But it's gotta be better than holing up in here and doing nothing."

"Great idea, Kis, but, uh, if you haven't noticed… I don't exactly have an army to back me up here." Jacob interjected.

Kisa smiled. "Yeah, but now you have us. Well, Al, anyway." She said turning and grinning. "He's the prodigy, genius, whatever. Both. He can train you. Hopefully, it'll be enough to help fight off your Sins." She said, turning back toward him.

"Yeah, sure. I mean, if Alphonse is okay with it." Jacob said, looking at me.

I wanted to say no- it wasn't logical in any way, because logically, if I didn't help Jacob, Kisa and I could be trapped in here, forever. So, deciding to go the way of Spock, I nodded. "Sure. Anything to help."

"Really? Great. Thanks, I mean… thanks. I'm gonna go find somewhere we can practice. Um, Happy, come with?"

"Sure!" The two of them ran off.

Kisa stood up and turned to face me, biting her lip. "Sorry about that. I get… carried away. I didn't mean to volunteer you."

"It's okay. It'll help get us out of here faster." I said with a shrug.

"I kinda figured, that's why I…" She shook her head. "I just wish I could help more. I mean, I'm… this is kinda my fault, so…"

Now I suddenly understood why Kisa was so eager to help. "Kisa, this isn't-"

"It is, Al." She said, sounding miserable. "I know everyone wants to keep telling me it isn't, but… my PSI bullet did this to him, Alphonse. I may not have been in control for the rest of it, but when I fired off that bullet? That was all me. I shot Jacob in the face, knowing what that could do to a normal person."

"That was self defense, Kisa." I reminded her. "Besides, he wasn't… himself."

"I know that now. I didn't then."

"Kisa, you were twelve." I said, walking around the cushy chair to hug her. "You were just doing what you'd been taught. Trust me, you aren't the only one who made stupid mistakes when you were a kid."

"You?" She asked, sounding disbelieving.

"Yeah. I'll tell you about it some time. For now, I'm going to go work on getting us out of here." I said, kissing her forehead and walking toward the door Jacob squared disappeared through.

"Al?" I peeked back around the doorway. Kisa smiled sweetly. "You don't have to be jealous of Jacob."

I groaned. "You heard that?"

"Spock you are not, babe." She grinned. "He would've remembered that his girlfriend is a very talented telepath."

"You know, I'm gonna find Jacob now." I said, quickly making myself scarce while Kisa laughed in the other room.

_Several Hours of Intense Mental Un-Funness Later_

"You have to concentrate, Jacob."

"I _am_, Alphonse. I have been concentrating for the past six hours. How do you do this?" Jacob demanded of the younger boy, gesturing to the pile of weapons and armor that had amassed on Al's side of the room.

"Years of practice. It takes a lot to actually conjure up a good, solid mental image and keep it there. But this is your mind. It shouldn't be this hard." He muttered.

Jacob groaned. "Yeah, except, like seventy percent of it _isn't_ my mind."

Al grinned. "And I think we just figured out what your problem is."

"I suck?" Jacob suggested with a sarcastic cheeriness.

"No, you need to remember that this _is_ your mind. Despite what you may think, these are all different facets of _your_ personality."

"Who are trying to turn me into a distant and very much dead thought." Jacob pointed out. "I don't understand why you and Kisa can't do this. I mean, you're both trained. I mean, your parents are some of the best Psychonauts in the world."

"This is your mind. Kisa and I don't have as much power here as you do." Jacob raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked straight at Al's pile of metal goodies. "I have practice. But if I tried to use these on any of your Sins, they'd probably snap. Point," Alphonse threw the spear he was holding at the boy. Jacob yelped and threw his hands up, then heard a snap. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see that there was a thick metal shield between him and Alphonse, and that the spear had splintered on it, "If that had been my head, you would've been impaled." He said, brushing some dust off of his jacket.

"How'd I do that?"

"Well, for the moment, it seems the best way to get you to form a solid thought is to make you feel threatened." Al mused, rapping a knuckle on the shield. It made a dull, metallic 'tunk.'

Jacob laughed a little. "Great, because that's all I've been feeling for the past two years."

"You'll get better at it." Al assured him. "We've still got time."

"No, we don't." Kisa said, coming down from the roof, a canary yellow wearing Jacob behind her. "I think we're all out of time." Al and Jacob ran over to the window.

"Oh dear god." Alphonse gasped.

"We're screwed." Jacob agreed. "That… this is bad."

A cloud of color seemed to be rising from every visible direction, coming straight toward the castle. "It's all of them. They're all coming at once." Jacob muttered, holding his head in his hands. "We're dead."

"No we're not." Kisa said. "Al's been training you for hours, and we'll back you up. We've just… we've just gotta make a plan."

"We have take to take them out one by one." Al said. "They can't all get here at once. They're all trying for territory, right?" He questioned.

"Ye-ah." Jacob said, stretching out the word. "Whoever has the most territory is usually in control. Usually Pride or Wrath."

Alphonse grinned. "I have an idea."

SC: And that's where I'm leaving you guys, cuz I'm a bitch. Also, because dramatic, cliff-hanger like endings waaaay to much for whatever fans I have good.

So, yeah, I'm back. Sorry about that. I'm working on updating more often now, because apparently, college coming up is the kick in the ass I need to get moving. Who knew? But… yeah. Reviews would much appreciated, thanks muchly!

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Title Here Kplz

"Al, are you _crazy_?" Jacob questioned. "We can't take _any_ of them! They're too strong."

"It's the only reasonable plan." Al said, crossing his arms. "If they get here and manage to gang up on us, we're doomed. We have to take them out one at a time. It's our only chance."

"But where would we start?" Kisa asked.

Al paused, walking over to looked out the window at the advancing wall of color. "What's that red one there?" He asked, turning back to Jacob.

Jacob followed the direction Al was pointing, and blanched. "Wrath." The blonde said quietly.

"Then that's where we'll start." Alphonse said. "It's going to be difficult, though. From what I've seen, Wrath is one of the strongest personalities in here."

"Well, I think we're kinda screwed either way with Wrath, aren't we?" Kisa asked. "I mean, if we fight him first, we'll probably end up too tired to deal with the rest, but if we fight any of the others first, we'll probably be too tired to beat him."

"There's a positive thought." Jacob sighed. "Well, he is the closest one, I guess. It's kind of hard to tell."

"Let's get moving, then." Al said, turning away from the window.

"Cowardice, come _on_!" Jacob growled, tugging at his yellow-clothed personality's legs. He was stubbornly holding onto one of the trees as Jacob tried to force him to let go.

"Nooo! I don't wanna!"

Jacob frowned. "You really want us to leave you here, in the middle of this?" He asked, gesturing to the crimson landscape around them. The group had made their way onto a cliff overlooking Wrath's fortress. Burnt, charred, horrid landscape surrounded them, and there were hundreds of Personal Demons and Censors, who had mutated to match the landscape. The usually small, mostly harmless Personal Demons had become huge, spiked monsters with large fangs and claws. Censors wielded swords instead of stamps, and had furious red faces.

Cowardice looked around, eyes wide, then promptly released the charred-looking tree he'd been clinging too and latched onto Jacob instead. "Geez, you're worse than Patience." He muttered, shoving Cowardice off of him so he could walk. The yellow-clad personality grabbed onto the tail of Jacob's jacket, looking around nervously.

"Well, you have to admit, rushing Wrath head-on is kind of… impatient. At least he didn't put up a fight, though." Kisa pointed out, hopping off the rock she'd been resting on. "Now that we've gotten Cowardice to let go of the tree, new problem: how do we get in there without trying to fight our way through… that?" She asked, gesturing to the mess of disturbing mental defenses below them. She turned toward Al, who was kneeling at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the castle. "Any ideas?"

"Maybe." He said, standing and dusting red dirt off of his pants. "If I'm right, this castle has the exact same layout as Jacob's. It just looks like it was ripped out of Silent Hill, instead of a happy version of the middle ages."

"I knew playing that game was going to come back to bite me." The blonde muttered. "So, what? We sneak in?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Al said, not looking too sure of the plan himself. "It's better than trying to cut our way through those things."

"Here, here." Jacob said, shuddering. "I don't want to go anywhere near those things."

"All right… the best way to get in would probably be that balcony window that leads to the armory." Al said. "That'll give us a straight run to the throne room, which is probably where we'll find Wrath, right?"

Jacob nodded. "That's where they control things from. Wrath's gonna be on the throne, just in case he manages to get the upper hand- then he'd have control of the body."

"There's a cheery thought." Kisa muttered. "Okay, let's get going. I wanna get this over with so we can try and get out of here."

Jacob chuckled. "I don't blame you. Getting out of here sounds like a really good option."

"Don't worry, Jacob. We'll fix things up in here so you won't _have_ to get out." Al said, patting his shoulder. "Now, let's get inside this place and work out your anger issues."

"Geez, you guys are better than therapists." He joked, summoning up a levitation ball.

Kisa smirked. "Wait until you get _our_ bill." She said, leaping to the stone balcony of the castle.

"Well, I'm glad that her sense of humor hasn't been dampened." Al sighed, shaking his head. "C'mon, Patience." He said, grabbing the grey wearing Jacob's arm and dragging him across the gap with him.

Jacob laughed, grabbing Cowardice's shoulder. "Happy, Sadness, let's go."

"This place is creepy." Kisa muttered, looking at the torn tapestries and stained walls. "Am I the only one expecting Pyramid Head to jump out at us?"

"Please don't joke. Wrath is a sadistic bastard, and I wouldn't put it past him." Jacob muttered, looking around.

"Actually, I never got that far." A voice called from the bottom of the stairs. "Copyright infringement and all." Wrath grinned sadistically. "Quite the little party you've got here, Prime. Couldn't come and face me alone?"

"Why come alone when he doesn't have to?" Kisa yelled, PSI Punching Wrath away from the bottom of the stairs. The group quickly ran into the throne room, giving them a much better space to fight in.

Wrath chuckled, sitting up and rubbing his jaw. "You always did have a good right hook, Kisa."

"Don't talk to her!" Jacob yelled, firing a PSI blast at him. Wrath didn't even flinch as he seemingly absorbed the bullet, still grinning. "Wh-what the…"

Alphonse growled. "I was afraid of this. Jacob, you can't fight Wrath."

"What? Why?"

"He's _your_ anger- you attacking him will just make him stronger." He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kisa and I will handle this one."

Kisa put a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "You just concentrate on staying calm." She said with a cheery smile before running after her boyfriend.

"But- Kisa!" Jacob's fists clenched. "I can't let them do this alone. C'mon, guys, back upstairs. We're going to help them reclaim our- _my_ sanity." He ran back up the staircase, the four multi-colored personalities following him.

"Aw, looks like you're backup just chickened out." Wrath laughed, throwing Alphonse across the room. He let out a choked cry of pain as he hit the floor, bouncing and sliding across it until he hit the opposite wall, losing a layer of his astral projection as he did.

"Al!" Kisa cried, running over.

"I'm fine- look out!" He shoved her out of the way, ducking as a red PSI-blast took a chunk out of the wall over his head.

"You're completely outmatched." Wrath chuckled, levitating across the room and grabbing Kisa's hair. She let out a scream of pain as he lifted her off the floor, his other hand taking hold of her neck. "You know, I never did like you much. Just wanted to smack that smile off of your face." She glared at him, barely managing to keep his hand from closing completely around her windpipe.

There was the sound of breaking glass as a emerald green PSI-blast destroyed one of Wrath's windows. "Really? Because we _always_ wanted Kisa." Al looked up to see a green Jacob float through the destroyed window. "Granted, it was for different reasons than, say, Lust or Pride, but still."

Wrath growled, dropping Kisa, who scrambled over to Al's side. "Envy and Greed." She whispered. Al nodded, pulling up the first flickering wisps of a shield around them. Wrath may not have been thrilled with them breaking in, but he was obviously pissed off that another Sin personality had dared to.

"What the hell are you two doing in _MY TERRITORY_?" He roared, his crimson aura flaring out menacingly as he shot up into the air.

"We've come to take what we want, what else?" Envy/Greed grinned. "And, since the only way to take over your territory is to take you out…" Wrath let out an enraged cry as he was tackled out of the air, struggling under the other personality's weight.

"What are you doing to me?"

Envy/Greed's face split into a wide, malicious grin. "Don't worry, Wrath. This will only hurt for a second."

Kisa looked away, a hand over her mouth, as the green colored Jacob's back suddenly burst open with dozens of tentacles, which all plunged into Wrath's body. Red smoke coiled up through the tentacles and into Envy/Greed's body as Wrath disappeared from underneath him, screaming and spitting curses the entire time. When Wrath had finally disappeared, the tentacles disappeared, and stripes of red appeared in the previously green aura. "Oh that is so wrong." Kisa muttered. "His aura's all Christmasy!"

"Now is not the time to nitpick, Kisa." Al said, shooting her a look as they both stood up, ready to fight again.

"The raw power…" The new being said, awed as he held his hands in the air. "Oh, _yes_… this will do nicely." He stood, turning toward the two psychics still trapped against the wall. "Now, for you two…"

"How about you deal with me first?" A familiar voice called as a white, psychic hand grabbed the amalgamation of Envy, Greed, and Wrath, tossing them into the floor.

"Jacob?" Kisa asked, gasping as the boy floated down the stairs, his aura lighting up the entire room, bleaching out the red stains and color in the room and making it look more peaceful and welcoming.

"Yes and no." He said, grinning.

"Super Jake." Al chuckled. "You merged with your other personalities."

"Yep. Little more peacefully than they did, that's for sure." He said, jerking his thumb at the currently unconscious pile lying the in the middle of the room.

"I'm sure." Al said, dropping his shield and standing up. "Can you absorb them, too?"

Jacob's eyes widened. "What?"

"Jake, you have to absorb the bad personalities back into your psyche too." Kisa explained gently. "It's the only way to heal."

The blonde sighed. "I guess I knew that. Well, all right, let's get this over with- oh no you don't!" Jacob growled as the previously unconscious body rose up and flew out the other window of the room, just dodging his telepathic attempt to stop them. "Damn."

"He can't run far." Alphonse said.

Jacob nodded. "We can get him later. For now, we should head to the other territories. Sloth'll be the easiest to take down."

Kisa rolled her shoulders. "I could use an easy win right now." She sighed, reaching up to rub her neck.

"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer." All three jumped as there was suddenly another person in the room. Another personality, dressed all in black with darkened hair and eyes was hovering above the crater Jacob had thrown Envy, Greed, and Wrath.

The edge of gold around anti-Jacob's aura made the real Jacob's eyes widen. "Pride?"

"Not anymore." Pride grinned holding out his arms. "While you've been busy with Wrath, I've been pretty busy myself. I've absorbed all of your Sins, Jacob. And now, I'm going to absorb you, and then erase you from existence."

SC: Well. That's a tense little cliffhanger, ain't it? It's not what you guys deserve, after all the time I've taken to get this finished and posted, but it is how I had this planned out. There are only two more chapters, and _at least_ one will be posted before the new year. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, and reviews would be a _great_ present, hinthint.

Happy Holidays, and be safe!

SC


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Virtues and Sins

"Al, what is he talking about?" Kisa asked, looking over toward her boyfriend.

Alphonse's fists clenched. "If Pride absorbs Jacob like he has the other personalities, that will make _him_ the prime personality, and give him total control."

"That's… that's bad. But we can still stop him- it's three against one. Technically." She added after remembering that both Pride and Jacob had absorbed all of Jacob's other personalities into themselves.

Pride smirked. "Not so fast- you really think I would've come here without backup?" A pounding began to fill the room, and the wooden doors began to creak and bend inwards until they finally splintered and broke down, letting the Censors and Personal Demons that had been waiting outside until now in.

"Can you guys handle them?" Jacob asked, his eyes on Pride, who was floating above all their heads.

"We'll manage. Just get kick his ass." Kisa said, slamming a Psychic fist into a wall of enemies. Jacob nodded, flying up after Pride.

"Ooh, lookit you, all powerful now." Pride laughed. "You'll never beat me, Jacob- you're too peaceful and kind to attack me. Besides, you can never come to terms with what you've let us do. Face it- you lost this battle before you eve- hurrkk!" Pride choked off as Jacob slammed a fist into his chest- literally. Jacob's white gloved hand sunk into Pride's core.

"I came to terms with myself- _all_ of myself- a long time ago." Jacob growled, ripping his hand back and with it, Wrath. The manifestation of the blonde's anger disappeared into smoke, which crawled up Jacob's arm and disappeared inside of him.

Pride clung to the railing of the balcony he'd been thrown into. "What… how…?"

"I told you- I came to terms with my sins a long time ago." Jacob said, hovering in front of him. "Unfortunately, until now, I've never been powerful enough to face any of you. Now, I'm strong enough _and_ sane enough to take them back. I was angry at everything, because I thought I was a freak for being a psychic," Jacob's hands plunged back into Pride's chest, making the black-clothed manifest scream in pain. Jacob removed one, holding a struggling, poison green version of himself, "I was envious of the power I saw in Kisa," Envy disappeared in the same manner as Wrath, and Jacob plunged his right hand back in as he pulled his left out, "And I wanted to be that powerful myself."

"Stop…" Pride gasped. "Please…"

Jacob's eyes narrowed. "Oh, but I'm not finished yet." He growled, yanking his hands out again. "I was too lazy to develop my own powers or to fight off my pending insanity, and Lust… well, I don't think I need to explain that one." He muttered, absorbing both Sloth and Lust.

Pride was now too weak to even hold himself to the railing, back to his usual, golden self. Jacob held him up by the front of his shirt. "And you… I was too prideful to admit what was wrong with me. My ego got so out of control that I let myself misuse my powers because I thought I was better than everyone else. And I attacked Kisa to prove it." He smirked slightly. "Pride cometh before the fall indeed."

"No- I don't want to go back!" Pride wailed, thrashing in Jacob's grip.

"Oh, shut up, would you? It's not about you- it never was." Jacob growled. "Time to fix the mess you helped make." Pride exploded into a cloud of golden dust, absorbing back into Jacob.

About the same time, most of the Censors and Personal Demons that were left over disappeared in puffs of smoke, leaving a relieved Kisa and Alphonse. "Quite the speech you just gave." Al said as Jacob, now clothed in a full spectrum of colors, landed on the floor.

Jacob smiled. "You don't think it was too monologue-y? I felt a bit like a cheesy villain." There was a low rumble, and the castle shook, bits of stone and dust exploding from the ceiling and walls. "Looks like it's time for you two to get out of here." He looked over toward the throne, where a small light was shining. It expanded into a glowing white door. "There's your way out- hurry, before it closes."

"What about you?" Kisa asked.

Jacob smiled. "I'll be fine. But you have to get out of here- if that door disappears, you'll both be trapped in here while I clean up this mess."

Al nodded. "Good luck. Kisa, let's go."

Kisa gave the blonde boy a quick hug before taking Al's hand and running out the shining door. It disappeared behind the two, leaving Jacob alone in his mind. With a sigh, he headed toward the broken doors of the quickly collapsing castle, a small smile on his face. "Time to get to work."

When Kisa first realized she was back in her own body, it was a strange sensation. She felt heavy, like she didn't fit right, and had to fight to open her eyes- not so much to close them when she was blinded by the overhead lights. When she tried again, the light was blocked out by the faces of her worried parents.

"Kisa! You're all right!" Lili sighed in relief, hugging her daughter tightly.

"You really had us scared, Kisa." Raz said, not so subtly wiping his eyes.

"'m sorry." She said, hugging her parents back. "Where are we?"

Lili finally let go of her daughter. "The medical wing of Psychonauts' Headquarters. You've been unconscious for almost three weeks, Kisa." Kisa's eyes widened.

"What? Wait- what about Al? And Jacob?"

"Al woke up a minute ago, but Jacob… he's still unconscious, and his mind's completely shut down from all psychic entry." Raz explained. "What happened?"

Kisa gave her parents the short version of the story.

"That would explain the brief moment that we could feel Jacob's mind open back up." Sasha said, having joined the group just after Kisa had begun to explain. "But I don't understand why he shut it out again."

"He just wanted to fix things on his own, I guess." Al said.

Sasha nodded. "I see. Well, the two of you have done a great thing, stopping Jacob from spreading that gas across the world like he planned."

"How much did he have?" Kisa asked, sounding surprised.

"A lot. Enough to cripple or kill every psychic on the planet." Lili said. "You two are getting medals from dad for saving the psychic population."

"But you're both still grounded. Indefinitely." Milla added in a scolding tone.

"Yeah, we kinda figured." Alphonse sighed.

~_Several months later…_~

"Kisa, you're gonna call us sometime this summer, right?" A girl with curly blonde hair asked the redhead teasingly as the three sat on the steps in front of their private school

"Maybe. Depends on how long camp runs." Kisa replied with a grin.

"Or if she can tear herself away from her boyfriend." Another girl with darker hair commented. "She talks to him all the time."

Kisa's face flushed. "Shut up, Vicky." She ordered, looking up as a sleek, dark green sports car pulled into the curved driveway of the academy.

"Speak of the devil…" Vicky commented as the driver's side door opened and Alphonse Nein climbed out.

"The very handsome devil." The blonde added, eyeing the nearly-sixteen-year-old.

"He's taken." Kisa said dryly, standing up and grabbing her bag before running down the steps and hugging her boyfriend. There were whistles from behind her. Kisa pulled away from Al, flipping her friends off before climbing into the car.

"Very ladylike, Keese." Al told her, tossing her suitcase in the trunk and getting back behind the wheel.

"Ladylike is not a requirement with my friends." She retorted. "You've certainly changed your look." She commented, giving him a once over now that she wasn't fending off drooling teenage girls.

"Yeah. Dad nearly murdered me over the hair." Al said, referring to the fact that he now sported a short ponytail. "I'm about to cut it, just so Sarah'll stop trying to pull it. But this is definitely a new look for you. I like the plaid."

Kisa forcibly turned Al's head back to the road. "Eyes on the road, Nein, not my skirt."

"Wasn't looking at your skirt." He retorted with a grin. Kisa just rolled her eyes. "Sorry. So, what do you think about being junior counselors this year?"

"I think it's gonna be pretty fun, all things considered." She said, reaching into her bag as she felt her phone vibrate against her leg. Pressing a couple of buttons, she turned on the speakerphone. "Hi mom."

"_Kisa, has Al come to get you yet?_"

"I'm in the car with him right now."

"Hi Lily." Al greeted.

"_Hello Al. Listen, Kisa, slight change of plans. I need you two to head for New York City._"

Kisa looked over at Al, who shrugged. "What? Mom, why?"

"_Your grandfather just called me. Jacob's awake. He's asking to see the two of you._" Lily said. "_You can fly out to Whispering Rock from there_."

"Psychonauts HQ it is." Al said, pulling off the interstate and turning around.

~_Psychonauts' Headquarters, medical wing_~

"The receptionist said room one-oh-eight…" Kisa said, practically running down the hall.

Al grabbed her arm. "Right here." He said as the redhead almost ran past it. "You ready?"

Kisa nodded, pushing open the door. "Jacob?"

The blonde sat up in bed, his aura a calm, peaceful grey, and grinned. "Hey guys. What's up?"

SC: Okay, so, it's not by New Year, and I'm sorry, but it was just NOT coming out right. I tried to make the fight between Jacob and Pride longer, but it didn't work, so I just added the epilogue in, which was supposed to be a chapter on its own. So, yeah. That's it! Next Generation is over with! I may be working on a sequel, tho, depending on how my other stories are going. Keep your fingers crossed, NG fans ;P

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion


End file.
